Naruto of the Four Dojutsu: Rewrite
by dracohalo117
Summary: The mission to Wave changed the fate of the Shinobi world...the catalyst, a child whose village betrayed him...behold Naruto of the Four Dojutsu
1. Prologue

Disclaimer-I do not own Naruto in any way, shape or form, nor does my partner in writing Hakkyou no Yami...

Oc's and Concepts: The Original characters and concepts of this story were created by Hakkyou no Yami and myself, we worked very hard to create the original characters and the concepts, and we would appreciate that you do not use our Original Characters or our concepts without expressed permission from BOTH of us.

Notice: In case any of you are wondering, or have not noticed this story, along with just about any other story made by myself, and Hakkyou no Yami will be AU, the characters will be OOC, and above all else, we will NOT be following canon. We will extract elements FROM canon, but we will not be doing a rewrite of the canon storyline.

Our sincerest apologies for a lack of updates, I however am in college and Hakkyou no Yami has problems of his own, so we are hard pressed into updating.

Plese check out the following...

**dracohalo117: Forum section**

**dracohalo117: Ideas not Likely to get to...but will let others take**

****Hakkyou no Yami: **Tales of Destiny: Rebirth of the Genesis******

******Hakkyou no Yami: Eternal Legends: Rebirth of the Second Onslaught******

**Mystic 6 Tailed Naruto: Rage of the Tormentor**

**TheDemonKingNaruto: Rise of Hellwing Naruto**

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><p><em>Kekkei Genkai, Bloodlines, Blood limits…so many names for the exact same thing, a trait, inherited through lineages from generation, to generation, eternally bonded to the blood of the next generation, forever a part of them. Kekkei Genkai vary from family to family, clan to clan, sometimes even branches of the same family will have different Kekkei Genkai. <em>

_Kekkei Genkai are as diverse as the people who hold them…some have known to be capable of manipulating and creating ice when the air is hot enough to melt it, others have been able to sprout immense forests where water has not touched the soil in generations, and others have shown inhuman abilities to turn their very body into a savage weapon of carnage. _

_But there are bloodlines, Kekkei Genkai, who hold power within the eyes…Dojutsu. _

_Considered to be the most powerful bloodline variation, seconded only to a rare few, Dojutsu are incredibly powerful…and incredibly rare in number. Of all the dojutsu however, there are four who are the most noteworthy of them all. _

_Rinnegan, Sharingan, Byakugan, and Seishougan…the four great Dojutsu, each one holding a power that separates them from all the others. _

_Rinnegan, the fabled eye said to have been wielded by the father of all ninjutsu, and Kami no Shinobi, the Rikoudo Sennin himself, its powers, as mystical and hidden as the legends of the Rikoudo Sennin himself. Its powers are over the six paths of Deva, Asura, Human, Animal, Preta, and Naraka, command over the five primary forms of nature manipulation, and other mysterious techniques that even the sacred scrolls of the Rikoudo Sennin himself make no mention of. _

_Sharingan, said to have been descended of the Rinnegan lineage, able to see the flow of chakra itself, perception far exceeding even the most observant of Shinobi, an advanced level of photographic sight, allowing them to copy Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu so long as a Kekkei Genkai is not required to learn it, and finally a level of hypnotic suggestion_

_Byakugan, a mysterious, yet coveted blood limit which has sparked wars for control of this Dojutsu. Able to see nearly 360' of vision, telescopic sight, capable of seeing through solid objects, and see the flow of chakra itself, and those born with this bloodline seem to have a naturally superior level of chakra control than others. _

_Seishougan, a bloodline whose origins are as unknown as the Rinnegan itself, and its powers just as mystical, as it is capable of manipulating raw chakra in such a way that it may as well be ones own limb, even manipulate its very form, it even allows one to manipulate the chakra of those not their own, as well as break down the chakra makeup of anything its eyes see, jutsu, seals, even other living entities. _

_All four of them are powerful, legendary, mystical beyond belief…but their origins, the source of these four icons of power within the Shinobi world are still a mystery. Some theories are based on research, others on belief, others are fabricated truths based on another's arrogance. Some have said they are gifts from the gods, others say they are natural mutations, others have said they were the results of ancient experiments gone horribly wrong, and others say they are the results of some sort of biological advancement within the human race. _

_They could not possibly be more wrong…_

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><p><em>The next chapter will come soon...for now, thank you, ja-ne...<em>


	2. The Awakening

Disclaimer-I do not own Naruto in any way, shape or form, nor does my partner in writing Hakkyou no Yami...

Oc's and Concepts: The Original characters and concepts of this story were created by Hakkyou no Yami and myself, we worked very hard to create the original characters and the concepts, and we would appreciate that you do not use our Original Characters or our concepts without expressed permission from BOTH of us.

Notice: In case any of you are wondering, or have not noticed this story, along with just about any other story made by myself, and Hakkyou no Yami will be AU, the characters will be OOC, and above all else, we will NOT be following canon. We will extract elements FROM canon, but we will not be doing a rewrite of the canon storyline.

Our sincerest apologies for a lack of updates, I however am in college and Hakkyou no Yami has problems of his own, so we are hard pressed into updating.

Please check out both mine and Hakkyou no Yami's forums, the links to both are on my profile near the top. Also please check out both of our profile pages.

Also, please check out the following

Hakkyou no Yami-Tales of Destiny: Rebirth of the Genesis

Hakkyou no Yami-Eternal Legends: Rebirth of the Second Onslaught

Mystic 6 Tailed Naruto- Rage of the Tormentor

Mystic 6 Tailed Naruto-Dark Legends: Wrath of the Demon King

Mystic 6 Tailed Naruto-Various challenges

TheDemonKingNaruto- Rise of Hellwing Naruto

**Important Notice-**This version of Naruto of the Four Dojutsu is drastically different from the original version, the pairing has been completely changed, and the storyline has been overall, improved. The original version of Naruto of the Four Dojutsu will be deleted, along with New God of War, Respect Gained Trust Lost, and Mokuton Heiru.

**Attention-**The following stories are to be rewritten…Hakkyou no Yami and I have reread the stories, and we both feel they need drastic improvements.

Calamity of the Frozen Storms

Dark Legends: Rise of the Abyssal Prince

Demonic Legends: Rise of the Inugami

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><p>Nami no Kuni, a series of islands just off the coastline of Hi no Kuni, once a prosperous area… At one point, it was a prime area for fishing, a place of commerce, and one of the few hubs within the ocean surrounding it where all the other nations could enjoy free commerce regardless of their allegiances…but not anymore. This land was now a poverty stricken wretch, a shadow of its former self, no matter where one looked, none could ever find the glorious wealth that this land once had within its grasp.<p>

A shipping industry run by a man named Gato was the source of this strife.

He came to the land of waves like most businessmen, seeking a source of income, bartering and selling his goods, a clean business.

Or so they thought.

Gato was a sleazy underhanded monster of a man, he played the clean businessman act perfectly, while on the side he was using blackmail to gain control over other shipping businesses, sending assassins to take down any competition, and employed anywhere from murderers, to rapists, to missing-nin in order to build up his own private army. It was not long before Gato was in total control of Nami no Kuni, and he began to show just how vile he was.

Kidnapping men, women, and children, to be used as cheap labor, to be sold off to the highest bidder as slaves, or even put to work in Gato's mansion…in whatever way he saw fit. He sold drugs on the streets of Nami no Kuni, getting young kids addicted and in debt so he could leach off of them and their family so the child could fuel their addiction.

His reign over Nami no Kuni had lead to many people standing against him in order to take back what was theirs.

Families were butchered, women raped in front of their husbands, even young children suffered similar fates.

Soon enough, nobody dared to oppose Gato…until years later, when a single Bridge Builder went to Konohagakure no Sato for aid.

He had been trying to build a bridge connecting Nami no Kuni to the mainland, allowing them to be able to do commerce outside of shipping, and even allow those who wished to leave Nami no Kuni to escape without incident. However, Nami no Kuni as a whole did not have the necessary funds to hire a team of Shinobi to do what needed to be done, so he lied about what the mission was, and hoped to all the gods that he would be lucky…the gods answered his hopes in the form of Naruto Uzumaki…the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko.

At this current moment…Naruto was on his knees, panting heavily as he felt exhaustion overcome his body. After the bridge builder Tazuna had come to Konoha, he had lied about the difficulty of the mission, instead of a C-rank mission; the mission was in actuality closer to an A-rank mission. On the way to Nami no Kuni, they had been attacked by two Kirigakure missing-nin, the demon brothers. They had quickly 'dispatched' their sensei, and had moved to attack the bridge builder. Naruto and one of his two teammates, Sasuke Uchiha had fought against the two missing-nin, but even still, they had been quickly defeated, and the two missing-nin had turned their attention towards Tazuna. Just before they were about to kill the bridge builder, their sensei had come out of nowhere, apparently having used a kawarimi in order to test a theory of his.

Naruto could not help but glare spitefully at their sensei for having used them as bait for something he could found out through interrogation.

Naruto may have been a Genin, but he was not as stupid and foolish as most wanted to believe he was. While he may have been the dead last in the academy, it was only because the academy took more value in academics than in practical skills, as well as the fact none of the teachers at the academy took even a second to correct his horrendous shinobi skills, which he basically had to learn from scratch. Nobody was willing to help him, nobody was willing to give him the time of day…because nobody could look past the fact he was a Jinchuriki to the very demon which had attacked their village twelve years prior.

Due to this, he had to grow up fast, and so what others his age had trouble seeing, he saw as the obvious…what was obvious before him, was that his sensei had a hidden agenda by allowing this mission to continue, though as to what, he could not be sure.

As they progressed further, they were soon attacked by another missing-nin, Zabuza Momochi, one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shu, and the Kirigakure no Kijin. Their sensei, Kakashi Hatake engaged in mild banter with the missing-nin, before the missing-nin made his move, almost killing Naruto, his team, and the client. It was only through the use of a Shunshin on Kakashi's part that the four of them were not slain by the deranged missing-nin.

Their sensei fought Zabuza to a standstill, until Kakashi foolishly fell into the water, falling into a trap which quickly got him captured by the missing-nin…if it were not for Naruto's ingenuity and quick thinking, Kakashi would have been killed. After Kakashi was freed from Zabuza's grasp, he gained the upper hand against him…but before Kakashi could deal the finishing blow, a Hunter-nin had finished the job, and taken Zabuza's body.

By the time they realized the Hunter-nin was a fake, it was too late. This lead to Kakashi, for once, deciding to teach them something, which was essentially a basic chakra control exercise.

A week later, Zabuza and his accomplice, the false Hunter-nin had attacked the bridge, and held nothing back.

Kakashi had immediately gone for Zabuza, while he and his teammates Sasuke Uchiha had to contend with the false Hunter-nin.

They were soundly beaten, even as they tried to stand up and fight, they were pushed back, further and further. All of the blows struck at them were non-lethal however. Even still, they knew that if they did not figure out a way to fight back, they were ensured to die.

As the battle raged on…Sasuke Uchiha fell…apparently dead.

The moment his teammate fell over, a lifeless look in his eyes, he realized one cold hard fact, he had no hope of winning. He was completely out of chakra, he did not even have enough to use a kawarimi, or even the physical strength to throw a single kunai, his legs were trembling from fear, and from exhaustion.

Just as the false Hunter-nin was about to deliver the final blow though…he felt an incredible power flow through him, a power he knew was not his own.

It was the Kyuubi's.

As the Kyuubi's youki flowed through his body, he felt stronger; he felt his energy return to him in the form of this new, darker power.

He attacked the Hunter-nin, killing him within seconds, before he turned his attention towards the end of the bridge, where Gato had chosen to show his face, flanked by his private army.

Just before he could move to attack the new enemy, Zabuza had decided to switch sides, and attacked the corrupt shipping tycoon, using a kunai held by his mouth, he cut through bandit after bandit, murderer after murderer, until he was in front of Gato. With what little strength he had in him, he severed the midget monsters head from his body, splattering Zabuza's dying body in a shower of blood and gore.

Mere moments after that, the citizens of wave rallied together, forming a small army of their own, and charged the bridge. Gato's army tried to flee, but those that did not fall off the bridge trying to get to the boat below were cut down by the wave citizens, staining the bridge in their blood.

By this time, the Kyuubi's potent youki had begun to recede back into the seal on Naruto's naval, and Naruto fell to one knee, as exhaustion overcame him once more.

At the same time…his sensei, Kakashi Hatake was looking at him, his conversation with the Sandaime before they began this mission projecting through his memory.

_Flashback_

_Team 7 had just been assigned their first C-rank mission to escort the bridge builder Tazuna back to his home in Nami no Kuni. He had just told his team to go and prepare themselves for the upcoming mission. Just as he was about to leave as well, he was stopped by the Sandaime, "Kakashi, I need to speak with you for a moment."_

_Kakashi turned to the Sandaime, "Of course Sandaime-sama." his team continued out the door towards their individual homes. _

_The Sandaime, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned towards the Chunin sitting by him, "Could you please excuse us?"_

_The Chunin bowed and stood, leaving the room as the Sandaime asked. _

_There were several moments of silence, so quiet that they could hear the burning of the ashes in the aged Sandaime's pipe. Finally, the Sandaime took the pipe out his mouth, and blew out a small plume of smoke, "Kakashi…I have a very important mission for you to undertake, one that requires the utmost discretion and caution."_

_Kakashi looked towards the Sandaime, "What is it you require of me, Sandaime-sama?"_

_Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up at Kakashi from his seat, and crossed his fingers together, and he spoke with the utmost seriousness. _

"_On your mission to Nami no Kuni…the moment the opportunity presents itself, no sooner, no later…you are to execute Naruto Uzumaki."_

_End Flashback_

Kakashi's eye narrowed as he looked towards the tired blond…oh how he hated him, how he felt nothing but utter disgust and loathing by being in his presence. The very idea that his sensei's killer still lived, and for so long, he had to simply watch by as the monster who took the life of his second father continued to live a life he did not have the right to live.

Oh how he dreamt of the many methods of torture he would use on the 'demon'…he would lay awake at night, staring spitefully at the ceiling as image after image of that monsters face kept staring back at him, pretending to be some innocent little orphan. The demon may have fooled a few more stupid villagers into believing it was not a threat, but he along with so many others knew otherwise.

For years, his chance to kill the blond had eluded him, the Sandaime choosing for whatever reason to keep him alive…but that was past now, he still remembered the joy he felt when he had been assigned the mission, and his reasons for giving it.

_Flashback_

_Kakashi stared at the Sandaime in shock as the words left his mouth. The very man who had passed many a law throughout the years to protect the very person he was now asking him to execute. _

_Kakashi coughed and tried to compose himself, "S-Sandaime-sama, may I ask why you wish me to execute…him?" Kakashi spoke with a hint of edginess in his voice and…excitement._

_This did not go unnoticed by the Sandaime, but he chose not to make note of it, "You just did…but I shall indulge your curiosity." the Sandaime stood up and leaned against the desk, "Naruto Uzumaki is the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, and his mere existence has caused several riots within the village who desire him to be killed or subjugated, I have even had to deal with strife from my advisors, the Shinobi council, and the civilian council. The number of riots increase so much that the daimyo himself sent a platoon of his enforcers to deal with the dissention in Konoha." the Sandaime's hands clenched, digging into his desk, "Do you have any idea how humiliating it is, to be scolded by militia-men because I can't keep my villagers in line, in front of the forces I am supposed to be commanding?" he took a deep breath, and exhaled. _

_After a few moments, he looked back towards Kakashi, "However, despite the obvious troubles his existence has caused me, and the village as a whole, he remains as a valuable military asset due to his status as a Jinchuriki. So I did what I needed to in order to ensure we did not lose that asset…I hoped that within a few years, he would become a useful tool who would have absolute loyalty and respect for the village. However, I see now it was a horrible mistake."_

_Kakashi remained silent, but inwardly he was shivering. _

_Hiruzen spoke further, "In the last six years, he has proven to be more a nuisance to be kept alive, he has caused village wide ANBU chases, ANBU who should be patrolling the village, not chasing after a child…has caused clans to lose precious time to locate him after he has pulled one of his senseless pranks, time they could be using to improve themselves instead of chasing after him, and desecrated several important areas during times where we are receiving important diplomats and clients, making us look incompetent because he has managed to enter secure areas, thus causing clients and diplomats to lose faith in our abilities. In addition, his skills as a Shinobi are horrendous, he has no stealth, no taijutsu, he can't even throw a kunai properly. Even if the Kyuubi no Yoko provides a deterrent for other villages to think twice about invading us…it has become obvious that using Jinchuriki as deterrents is no longer efficient, as a few years ago, a Kumogakure diplomat had the audacity to try and kidnap a member of one of Konoha's clans in order to acquire the bloodline for themselves." he sat back down and looked at Kakashi, "As it stands…our forces will become more powerful, and our economy more sound once Naruto Uzumaki is dead."_

_Kakashi and Hiruzen looked at each other for several seconds, before Kakashi nodded his head, "I see…in that case, if Naruto's death will ensure our villages survival, then I accept the mission to terminate Naruto Uzumaki…however, how shall we deal with those who would not agree to these tactics?"_

_Hiruzen sighed and nodded his head, despite the fact a majority of the village despised Naruto, there were a few that had taken a shine to him. While they were few in number, there were enough where riots could break out if the fact Naruto had been assassinated was leaked, and while he could trust his information network to keep them from finding the truth…a little lie should keep the 'demon lovers' placated. _

_With that thought, the Sandaime looked up at Kakashi, "Naruto turned on the team, he became a traitor, and due to circumstances, killing him was the only route to ensure he did not cause further harm to you, or your other students."_

_Kakashi smiled and nodded his head, it was a great plan, and if all things went accordingly, then the 'demon lovers' would be silenced for good. _

_Hiruzen smiled at Kakashi, "Good…now I don't need to tell you twice that this information is to remain privy between us do I?"_

_Kakashi bowed, "Of course not…Sandaime-sama."_

_End Flashback_

Kakashi chuckled darkly as he reached up to his headband which he had just pulled down to cover his left eye, and pulled it back up to reveal his Sharingan eye, spinning wildly. The opportunity was perfect…Sasuke and Sakura had been knocked unconscious for a little while, so if they question why he killed Naruto at all, he could just tell them he chose to join Zabuza's side and he had no other option but to kill him, and none of the villagers had seen what happened before they charged in to attack the bandits, and right now, everyone was too concerned with dealing with Gato's now dying army.

He brought his hands up and performed the three necessary hand signs for his only original jutsu…the Raikiri.

At the same time, Naruto groaned as he clutched his stomach, the seal which held the Kyuubi within him, pulsing after that sudden usage of the Kyuubi's chakra. As he tried to push himself up, his muscles were practically screaming at him as he tried to move.

He fell to his knees once more and cursed, just as he was about to try and stand again…he heard a strange sound echoing in his ears. He could not help but listen closer, the sound was something akin to a fierce buzzing and…chirping?

Suddenly, he caught sight of something flashing in his peripheral vision, and he snapped his head up, and his eyes widened with shock.

Kakashi Hatake was staring him down, his Sharingan eye spinning wildly…a ball of light in the palm of his hand, his eyes showing a murderous rage as he stared at him.

Naruto's eyes widened even further as realization struck him…he knew that Kakashi had a hidden agenda…and now it was obvious what his agenda was.

His sensei intended to kill him.

Kakashi chuckled, almost insanely as he saw Naruto try harder to push himself up into a standing position, "You can't get away demon! Today you die!" Kakashi quickly jumped towards Naruto, his Raikiri poised to jam into the blonde's chest, killing him instantly, and painfully.

Naruto cursed as he used every last ounce of strength he had to just move out of the way, but the seal was still pulsing, causing him incredible agony. He pushed passed the agony, and tried to jump to the side out of the way of Kakashi's attack.

Kakashi swung the Raikiri towards Naruto, just as he managed to gain enough strength to move off to the side.

'SQUELCH!'

Naruto threw his head back and screamed, "AGGGHHH!" his arm shot towards the side of his abdomen as the Raikiri pierced through the left most side of his abdomen.

Kakashi cursed as he stood back up and turned towards the blond…but allowed a chuckle to escape his lips as he saw how pathetically Naruto was trying to stem the bleeding, with a sinister grin underneath his mask, he reached into his pouch and pulled out a single kunai knife, and slowly moved towards the downed Jinchuriki.

Naruto was cursing as his body was hit with worse pain than he had ever felt in his life, even though he was often beaten as a child, the ones who assaulted him were civilians, never a Shinobi higher than Genin rank. He grasped at the open wound on his stomach, trying to stem the flow of his bodily fluids as they poured out the side of his body like a river…

As he grasped his stomach, he pushed aside part of his jumpsuit, revealing the seal that had been on his body since the day he was born…twisted and shattered.

The twisted and shattered seal began to pulse erratically as the seal seemed to leak like blood from an open wound.

Kakashi stopped in front of Naruto and grinned, "I have been waiting for this moment since you killed my sensei demon…at long last…" he raised the kunai in the air, "Vengeance will be mine!"

Naruto tried to move as Kakashi swung down…only for his body to be shot with agony.

"AAGGHHH!" as he screamed, the seal shattered on his abdomen, and a pulse of energy shot outward from the blond, sending Kakashi flying backwards just as he was mere inches from jamming the kunai into Naruto's throat.

Naruto hissed and gritted his teeth, as the red youki of the Kyuubi ripped from his stomach, crawling across the surface of his skin, burning his skin savagely, while at the same time healing his wounds.

As he thrashed and convulsed, his jumpsuit began to disintegrate from the potent youki…revealing the warped remains of the seal.

Within the Seal

The walls within the seal were cracking, breaking over and over, the pieces falling to the pools of water below, while at the end of the great hall, the seal began to shatter entirely.

A massive set of iron gates, held shut by a single piece of paper, the kanji for Fuin the only writing upon it, held behind it, a powerful and dark entity, mightier than any Shinobi could hope to be.

A low growl echoed from behind the cage as the walls around it began to crumble, and out of the darkness, an immense figure stepped forth.

A massive fox, at least ten stories high, its fur a blazing burnt orange color, rippling and standing on end like fires upon a great forest. Its arms were long and powerful, and at the end of each arm was a large savage hand, each one tipped with an even more deadly claw. Its face was that of a fox, but its teeth were clearly belonging to those of a demon, its ears long, pointed up and back, almost like the horns of a powerful demonic entity, and its eyes…so filled with destructive malice. Its iris was a crimson blood red color, and its pupil was so slitted, it looked sharp enough to cut through mountains…and trailing behind the massive beast, were nine long tails, each one swirling and rippling like the tongues of a hungry flame.

The Kyuubi no Yoko…

The demon looked around, and suddenly snapped its head to the side as it saw part of its prison break off, and winced as it felt its very power be ripped from its body and forced through the broken seal.

The Kyuubi winced several times more as the same thing occurred, after several moments; it looked through the bars of its cage as it saw its potent youki leave its body…

The Kyuubi looked on in curiosity, even as it felt its youki be ripped from its body.

The youki crawled along the walls, until they reached the pipes which represented Naruto's chakra system. The potent red energy then began to wrap around said pipes, and slowly seemed to seep into them, until the Youki began to vanish.

Kyuubi watched in curiosity…and its eyes widened as it saw a drastic change.

The pipes began to shift and reshape, their tone of color and quality of the pipes altering, changing from a rusty brown color to a deeper onyx black color.

The demons eyes wandered across the room…before its eyes fell upon something.

The youki crawling along the walls also began to adhere and seep into the walls, restoring the stone which seemed to have decay since his birth…arcane markings began to appear on the walls…markings that the demon sealed within Naruto recognized all too well.

Kyuubi's eyes widened in shock, horror…and disgust, **"No…no…no…No, No, No, NOOOOO!"** the demon cried out in rage as it struck against the bars, its already hate filled eyes burning as it clawed harder and harder against the bars, **"RRAAAARRRGHHH!"** Kyuubi cried out in rage as it looked upon the symbols on the wall.

One such symbol…was a ripple pattern surrounding a solid circle.

Outside of the Seal

Naruto's body frozen for a second as the Youki seemed to fall as a mist to the ground, his wounds healed, but his body scorched in many places by the demons youki, and what remained of his jumpsuit was burnt, and it was now almost impossible to tell what color it used to be.

Kakashi stood up and groaned, before he turned his attention back towards Naruto.

At the same time, the citizens of wave, the remainder of Gato's forces, and his own students had their attention turned in the direction of the skirmish going on behind them.

His teammates, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno stared in shock, as the supposed dobe released such immense power that they could see the bridge start to crack beneath him, and a red mist crawled across the ground.

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes, _'What is this…power?'_

Sakura was trembling as she watched, her knees shaking, barely keeping her standing.

Kakashi's eyes were fixed upon the blond Jinchuriki before him, as the red mist floated about him.

Naruto was on his knees, clutching his abdomen, his head lowered as he randomly twitched in pain…and he slowly started to raise his head, just enough that his eyes were revealed.

Kakashi could not help but stare into Naruto's cerulean eyes, as his own eyes widened in shock at what he saw.

The pupil of his eyes grew smaller as his cerulean colored eyes became a light shade of purple, covering both the iris and the sclera…and a series of four ripple patterned rings appeared around his pupil.

And a wave of power exploded from his body, sending dozens of thick spider web cracks through the bridge, and he screamed in agony as his hands shot towards his face, clutching it hard, "AAAGHHH!"

Kakashi was blown back by the powerful burst with such force that he dented the railing of the bridge, and a resounding series of cracks was heard, and he too began to whimper in pain.

The others hit by the explosion of power were thrown back in similar fashions, crashing into each other, or falling right off the bridge even, their screams echoing before their body hit the water.

Naruto grit his teeth in pain as he suddenly arched his back as he looked towards the sky…and his eyes changed again, the innermost ring around his pupil, and the two rings furthest away from the pupil began to vanish, and his eyes began to turn a blood red color, as a single tomoe began to form on the remaining ring…before two more in each eye followed, eliciting another roar of agony from the blond.

Inside the Seal

The Kyuubi banged against the cage, roaring angrily as the demon saw the symbols on the walls, their eyes burning with fury.

Those eyes…those accursed eyes...

The ripple patterned rings surrounding a central pupil, that accursed Rinnegan.

And what's worse, as the symbols traveled across the walls, the Kyuubi saw another symbol, and the demons rage exploded further.

The Sharingan…

The demon smashed their body against the bars which held them shut within the seal, even as they began to break. Trapped in a body carrying the two things it hated beyond all recognition.

As the demon roared in rage as it attacked the bars, it did not catch as two more symbols appeared upon the walls…both in a similar circular form as the first two.

Outside the Seal

Naruto twisted in agony as his nails dug into the skin of his face as his eyes changed again, the red of his eye changing to a clear white color as veins pulsed around his eyes and along his temples.

The mist leaking across the ground around his body was now starting to slowly swirl around him as if he were the eye of a storm, and the red mist the surrounding wind.

"YAAAAGHHH!" he cried out in agony as he smashed his hands into the ground as he dug his fingers into the ground, somehow managing to break the concrete of the bridge.

He stared at the ground, his eyes now having the vague shape of a pupil within them before they began to shift again. His eye shifted from white, to a yellowish golden color, slowly swirling about his now visible, onyx black circular pupil.

He stared at the ground as his fingers dug into the ground as he grit his teeth from pain…while his canines began to sharpen and lengthen.

As the red mist swirled around his body, growing closer and closer to him with each passing second, the warped remains of the seal on his abdomen began to pulse faster and faster.

Inside the Seal

The Kyuubi continued thrashing and smashing itself against the gates holding it shut, its roars of rage echoing throughout the cavern as the walls were completely covered in arcane runes.

The Kyuubi grit its teeth, and sneered and snarled at the walls, the slit in its eyes becoming even thinner, showing its anger. To think, that not only were they sealed inside of a…disgusting human, they were sealed within a human that carried not just one, but two of the accursed bloodlines she loathed and despised beyond all others.

Just as the great demon was about to charge and attack the gate again…

When suddenly the youki being ripped from its body increased in volume…shooting incredible agony through its body.

"**RAAAAGGGHHHH!"** the Kyuubi fell to its stomach as even thicker ropes of its demonic youki tore from its body as even larger breaks in the gate opened, allowing the Youki to pour forth in even greater volumes, scorching the metal of the bars which held it in.

The Kyuubi roared in agony as its youki was forcefully ripped from their body…while its body slowly began to change.

Its fur began to dissipate, and its form began to shrink to a smaller size very rapidly. Its limbs began to shorten as its skin began to become smoother, while it hand began to shift to a smaller, more lithe form. Its back legs warped and shifted, and its back paw began to lengthen, and its toes and the bottom of its feet losing its padding, become smooth, and an arch forming. Its tails shortened slightly to accommodate its smaller stature, and the fur began to become thicker on the tail.

The Kyuubi's snout began to shorten, and its teeth became less canine-like, and its ears began to shorten, and the fur began to dissipate entirely on its face.

The youki streams finally stopped coming off of the Kyuubi, the gate now riddled with massive holes, only barely being held up by a few bars.

And the once immense form of the Kyuubi no Yoko had shifted…into a form that would make all who gazed upon this…creature, gaze in eternal awe.

No longer an immense fox demon, but now…a beautiful woman.

Her skin was a pale white, pristine, but carrying an almost unholy look about it, showing that despite its pristine form, it was still of demonic origin. The skin was smooth, unblemished, unscarred, marred only by a few arcane runes along the forearms, the legs, and along her abdomen and lower back. The markings were formed almost like claw marks, but there was a slight swirl to them, arcing, following the skin as it wrapped around the demons pristine form.

Her feet were beautifully formed, no bones were sticking up, no muscles pressing against the surface of the skin, her nails were neither too short, nor too long, and were a pristine onyx color, and the arch in her foot was like a beautiful passageway, neither too large, nor too small. Her shin and calves were smooth, and the muscles within the calves were smooth and strong. Her thighs were slightly thicker, but were pristine, no folds, nor stretching of the skin, the muscles of the thighs were perfect, and the thickness of her thighs only seemed to enhance her beauty. Her figure was…astounding, comparing her form to an hourglass would be nothing short of an insult of the highest degree. Her hips were generously wide, but were not too wide for her overall figure, and her ass was the same way, smooth and lovely.

The abdomen was smooth as well, but firm, showing her incredible strength. The runes upon her abdomen swirled and arced, but were still in the shape of claw marks. Her lower and upper back were also formed greatly as well, perfectly arched, perfectly formed, the bones neither pressing against the skin, nor her skin hanging off of her form, the smoothness was beautiful, and her skin was neither too thick, nor too thin, a perfect level. And her breasts…it was more perfect than any human could ever hope to achieve. Her breasts were easily a D-cup, possibly even DD-cup. The breasts were soft and supple, even by sight alone one could tell they were soft, but they were also firm enough not to sag, this was evident in their form. Her areolae were slightly larger than average, but it was only slightly darker than her own skin. Her nipples wee inverted, almost unnoticeable on her perfect breasts.

Her shoulders were smooth, and not too wide for her form, and supported a beautiful pair of arms. The arms were well muscled, but the muscles were not bulging against the skin, instead, the muscles only accentuated the strength and beauty evident in her figure, her forearms even showed strength greater than those of more common origin, her hands were neither too small, nor too large, and the bones in her fingers did not press out from the back of the hand. Her fingers each sported a long sharpened nail, onyx black in color.

Her neck was smooth and pristine, not too thin, nor to thick, at the back of the neck her spine did not press out against it.

Her face…was impossible to have upon a mortal body. Her face had a partially rounded form, her cheeks beautifully formed, and her arches and ridges upon her face, more beautiful than any mortal to have, no matter what they tried. Her lips were soft, beautiful; it was like her lips had never suffered from dehydration, or anything else for that matter. Her nose was small, but perfect for her face, and her ears held a mild point to the tip of the ears.

And her eyes…beautiful…the color of her iris was a blazing crimson red color, like the blazing fires of a raging inferno held within a perfectly carved ruby that has been cleansed within pristine waters. Her pupil was surrounded by a similar color, but it had an orange shade to it, and it was wrapped completely around the edge of her partially slitted pupil. Her hair was just as beautiful, a bloody crimson color, tinted gently by scarlet red highlights. Along one side of her face, her hair had bangs which partially covered her right eye, and she had some bangs framing her beautiful face. Her hair was long enough to reach past her lower back, not a single tangle, split end, or otherwise marred her hair.

She fell to her knees, panting heavily and she slowly brought her hands to her gaze, her eyes widened in shock, _'I-I have been reverted to this state? I lost that much of my power?'_

Suddenly, she heard the creaking of metal, causing her to snap her head up, and she saw what was happening to the gates before her.

They were falling apart…

Outside the Seal

The warped seals on Naruto's abdomen pulsed faster and faster, until it was impossible to tell if they were still pulsing or not. Until finally, the pulsing ceased, and the warped remains of the seal glowed brighter than ever before.

Suddenly, a series of cracks went through the remains of the seal…and in an explosion of power, the last remnants of the seal were completely obliterated.

Inside the Seal

The Kyuubi stared in shock as the gates were disintegrating, swirling about the room, before the remains of the gate began to glow brightly with a power even greater than her own…the power of the Shinigami itself.

The glistening remnants of the Shinigami's powers swirled about the room faster and faster, swirling about a single focal point, being forced so tight together that the energies were releasing mists of deathly miasma's which swirled about the edge of the remnants.

Suddenly, the central focal point where the energies were swirling glowed even brighter, and the remnants were spinning so faster that they were nearly invisible.

Kyuubi stared at the energy before her…and she shook her head, _'Oh no…'_

The energies seemed to pulse outward as the focal point glowed brighter…and in a sudden explosion, the remnants of the Shinigami's power flew forth.

The Kyuubi jumped back in a futile effort to flee, but none can escape the powers of death. The energies of the Shinigami crashed into her, wrapping around her like a fierce wind, and she screamed in agony, "AAGGGHHHHH!"

All the while, the Shinigami's energies began to crawl across the pipes and walls like her own Youki had done not long ago.

Outside the Seal

Naruto's eyes had returned to their normal cerulean blue color…which quickly widened as an agony even greater than before tore through his body, "YEAAAGGHH!" he began to convulse and spasm across the ground, as suddenly, a purplish mist exited his body in greater amount, wrapping and intertwining with the red mist that already swirled about him, and with the red mist, the energies began to wrap around his form like a wave upon the shore.

Kakashi had since begun to try and get up, only for him to freeze as he saw what was happening before him…and he felt terror like never before.

All those who watched were pushed back by the pressure of the raw power felt, others had been forced to their knees, while others began to flee in terror.

Sasuke Uchiha had been forced to his knees, but he still tried to crawl away, Sakura had since fainted and was whimpering, even while unconscious.

Naruto began to slowly stand as he clutched his head, and his eyes began to change over and over again. Until for a brief second, his eyes stayed upon the eyes which had to be of the Sharingan, and the pattern in the eyes began to change. The pupil of his eye remained relatively the same, while the Sharingan ring and tomoe around his eye began to shift, the ring became thicker, and the tomoe turned until the circular part of the tomoe was absorbed by the thicker ring, while three more tomoe tails grew out from the ring, six tomoe tails cut into the ring from the red ring around the pupil as well, and in between each black tomoe tail, equally spaced apart was a single black circle.

He suddenly shot his head upwards as his eyes began to spin rapidly, and a fierce wind began to envelop him, as debris began to be lifted up into the air as a ripple appeared in the air just above Naruto.

Kakashi stared in shock as he saw Naruto's eyes…he just could not comprehend what he was seeing before him. He had little time to think as his eyes shot up to what was happening above Naruto's head.

The rippling in the air began to twist at a single focal point, drawing in the floating debris in the air.

A vortex…

Kakashi's eyes widened as the vortex span faster, ripping debris up and swallowing it in its entire entirety, spreading the cracks in the bridge, he could hear as the concrete was cracking all around them.

The villagers were trying to gain their footing as the bridge was falling apart around them, while others were downright panicking.

Sakura Haruno who had somehow woken up was currently one of those panicking, "Ahhhh! Sasuke-kun, help me!" she cried out as part of the bridge crumbled out near her as a villager fell through it.

Tsunami was dragging Inari away, "Come on Inari!" they tried to get off the bridge as it was falling apart around them.

Naruto meanwhile was beginning to float upwards towards the vortex as it sucked in everything around it, he was still twitching and trembling as the red and purple mists, still intertwined were fastened to his skin, crawling across it.

Kakashi stared…until he felt something, like a pulse, coming from the vortex as it drew the blond into itself. His eyes suddenly widened as he recognized what this pulse was.

It was the same pulse he felt when he saw his sensei first use the Hiraishin, just moments before it sent out an explosive shockwave, nearly killing his sensei, and himself.

Kakashi pushed himself up, his body roaring at him as he felt unyielding pain tear through him. He used what little energy he had left, and sprinted towards his students.

At the same time, Naruto was starting to enter the vortex, the pulse growing stronger as it drew him in to itself.

Kakashi pushed villagers out of the way as the bridge kept falling apart, without a seconds rest he grabbed Sasuke and Sakura, before he ran towards the other side of the bridge…

Sasuke and Sakura yelped as they were grabbed.

Sasuke shouted, "Kakashi-sensei what are you doing?"

Kakashi did not answer…

Sakura whimpered as she was dragged practically, "Kakashi-sensei slow do-"

"Shut up! If we don't get off this bridge we're dead!"

Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened…before what little survival instincts they had kicked in and they began to run faster as well

Naruto kept rising into the vortex as it slowly began to close around him as he enter, until finally the vortex fully swallowed up Naruto and it began to close, the pulse coming out stronger and more rapidly than before.

Kakashi jumped to clear the distance between himself and the last stretch of the bridge.

"WHOOOOSH!" when suddenly, the vortex closed shut, and an explosive pulse tore through the air and into the already shattered bridge.

Kakashi tripped and fell, letting go of both Sasuke and Sakura.

Sasuke and Sakura tumbled a bit as they were let go, Sakura more so than Sasuke.

The bridge cracked, and the sound of creaking metal echoed out as the bridge began to fall apart even faster than before. The villagers and remainder of Gato's forces screamed as they tried to run towards the end of the bridge.

Tsunami tripped over as the bridge was collapsing, nearly letting go of Inari, "Come on, faster Inari!'

Inari cried, "I-I can't Kaa-chan!"

Tsunami got up, her eyes filled with terror as she saw the collapsing move faster, "Now!" she dragged Inari as the two of them kept running.

Civilians and bandits fell over with the rushing crowd, falling to their deaths below as the collapsing of the bridge caught up with them.

Kakashi got up and began to limp towards the end of the bridge, followed by his students.

Sakura whimpered, as the tumbling and the fall sprained her ankle and knee, making it harder for her to move.

The bridge was collapsing towards both ends, Kakashi and his students were almost at the end, when suddenly the bridge gave out beneath them, and they had to grab onto anything they could to keep them from falling to their death.

Kakashi had luckily managed to grab onto a jutting cable for the bridge, as did Sasuke, but Sakura did not, and she ended up grabbing onto Sasuke's leg.

Sasuke winced as the cable dug into his hands, "Gahh!"

Sakura whimpered as she looked down to see the debris at the bottom and the water below, there was no way she was going to survive a fall from this height, she looked up and screamed, "Sasuke-kun, help me!"

Sasuke cursed as he looked down at Sakura, who was looking up at him with pleading eyes.

Sasuke looked down at Sakura, his face blank, and for a moment, Sakura felt her heart beat faster as she used her free hand to reach up towards him…

Only for him to sneer, "Get off of me!" and he kicked her as hard as he could, causing her to lose her grip…

Sakura's eyes widened as she was forced to release Sasuke, and she plummeted down to the waters below, before her eyes were filled with terror as she screamed, "AHHHHHH!"

Kakashi looked down as he saw Sakura fall towards the water, and his eyes widened in horror.

Sakura kept screaming as she saw the water beneath her, and she closed her eyes as she splashed into the ocean below.

…

…

…

Sasuke and Kakashi stared down as the water rippled around where Sakura had fallen in…waiting to see what would happen.

Kakashi scanned the water, searching for any sign of Sakura…before his eyes landed on a faint red color floating upwards.

The red color breached the surface of the water, and Kakashi yelled, recognizing what it was, "Sakura!"

The floating red mass was Sakura's body wrapped in her red dress…floating face down in the water.

Kakashi's eyes were filled with desperation, "Sakura!" he looked fearful…his eyes darting around, looking for a possible way to get down there.

Sasuke looked down towards Sakura…and noticed the water around her begin to gain a red tinge.

Blood…Sakura was dead…

This fact did not go unnoticed by Kakashi, and he lowered his head, "No…" Kakashi's grip partially loosened on the cable he held, keeping him from sharing Sakura's fate. Were the powers that be so cruel to him? First his father, Obito, Rin, his sensei, and now one of his own students...

Just as Kakashi's grip was about to give, when he heard a grunting sound beneath him, and saw Sasuke begin to crawl up the remains of the bridge.

Kakashi's eyes steeled, and he reaffirmed his grip on the cable, wincing as he tried to pull himself up.

Meanwhile on the other side, Tazuna pulled his daughter and grandchild back up to safety. The moment they touched ground, they wrapped their arms around him, sobbing into his chest.

None were aware that the events that had just transpired would shake the world to its very foundations.

Elsewhere

In the middle of a large forest, the air was still, serene, calm.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, and the trees began to shake as suddenly, a vortex opened up, and large chunks of concrete and wires was dumped onto the forest floor, crashing through low lying branches, creating small craters in the ground as they fell.

The vortex remained open, continuously dumping debris upon the forest floor, until piles of concrete and bridge materials were scattered across the floor…when suddenly, a figure fell from the vortex, landing in a pile of grass and dirt below the vortex, which quickly closed shut as it dumped the figure from itself.

The figure was none other than Naruto Uzumaki…whose face was contorted in incredible agony, "AGGHHH! Fuck!" he hissed as he practically clawed at his abdomen as a faint glow began to erupt between his fingers from his abdomen.

He snapped his head back and screamed as the light grew stronger, "Grrrn! What the hell is going on?" he began to smash the ground and nearby debris with his fist as he kept one hand fastened to his abdomen as the light grew stronger.

When suddenly, the pain ceased for a single second…before in an explosion of crimson and purple light, and a sudden sharp, tearing pain erupted from his abdomen…

…

…

…

Naruto fell to all fours, panting in exhaustion as the light died down along with the pain, both of which had vanished as fast as they had appeared.

He reached up to his abdomen, panting, _'What…happened?'_ he slowly raised his head up as he tried to stand…

Only for him to freeze in shock at what he saw before him…

Lying on her side before him, was a woman…no, a goddess, nude as a newborn baby. Her hair was a bloody crimson, tinted by scarlet red highlights, her skin, a pristine pale color, marred only by some strange markings on her body. Her figure was impossible for him to describe, for never in his life had he seen something so…beautiful.

If such a word could ever be enough to describe this feminine creature before him…

He kept staring at the girl before him, until his eyes caught sight of something lingering about her skin, some strange purplish energy, crawling across the surface of her skin.

He could not help but stare at the energy as it seemed to seep into her skin, and suddenly, his eyes widened as he saw the goddess in front of him begin to change.

Starting from her feet, a small wave of energy seemed to gently crawl across her skin, almost like a shimmer of light crawling across the sky. Her form remained mostly unchanged, however her skin gained a lighter pale hue compared to what it was, not by much, but it was still noticeable. Her areolae became just a tad bit lighter…the most noticeable changes occurred when the energy touched her hair. Her once bloody crimson hair now had more vibrant scarlet highlights in it, particularly on her bangs.

As Naruto leaned in closer, he jumped back as he heard a loud exhale, and looked towards the figure before him, and his eyes widened in shock.

Her eyes slowly opened as the energy crawled across her skin, revealing her eyes…like perfectly carved rubies, each holding an eternally blazing fire within.

However, as the energy crawled across her face, her eyes began to change.

The iris shifted from a ruby red color, changing into a golden amber shade, tinted by a ruby red color, twisting, and swirling about the eye in a manner that just hypnotized him.

Finally, the energy crawled across the last bit of her body, before it sunk into the woman's skin.

Silence was all that could be heard as Naruto stared into the eyes of this beautiful entity before him. He gulped as her eyes never tore away from his own.

Suddenly, the entity seemed to blink, and she slowly began to sit up.

Naruto could not help but huddle back a bit as he saw her sit up, and his eyes wandered about her figure as she did so.

The woman blinked a few times, before her eyes landed upon Naruto, and her eyes seemed to widen, if only by a small margin.

Suddenly, her hand slowly rose up, and moved towards Naruto.

Naruto was unable to move, fixed to that single spot as the woman's hand reached towards him…

And gently placed itself upon his cheek.

Naruto felt as though his skin was being touched by silk too fine for the highest of royalty to wear, his sense of touch was shivering as the woman's hand gently caressed his cheek. His eyes slowly looked back up towards the woman, who continued to stare at him.

Her lips began to quiver, and she spoke with the softest, most beautiful voice he had ever heard in the entirety of his life…

"N-Naruto…sama…?"

…

…

…

His eyes widened in shock at her words, and he stuttered, "W-what?"

The woman smiled softly at him, and lightly bowed her head, while keeping her eyes fixed upon him, "You are my lord and master…and I, your loyal servant." her eyes remained fixed upon him, her eyes holding something he had never seen before in his life…

Was that…desire?

Hidden Location…Konohagakure no Sato

The village of Konoha held many secrets, some secrets were trivial, others could bend entire groups to follow ones will to prevent the secret from being known, some were kept for reasons that seemed logical, others were kept purely out of fear for what would happen if such secrets were known.

Hidden beneath Konoha, in a location known only to the Hokage, and his advisors was their greatest kept secret of all.

Deep in the soil of Konoha, an immense structure has been hidden away for years, even before the Sandaime's first reign as Hokage. The structure was immense, likely almost as wide as Konohagakure itself, long hallways and massive rooms, patrolled by figures wearing standard ANBU attire, wearing blank faceless masks.

Down one such hallway, a large doorway with intricate seals and strange locking mechanisms holding it shut, guarded by several of the blank masked figures.

Behind the doorway was a large room, easily capable of holding a small platoon of soldiers, and still allow for two arms worth of space between them. The walls were lined with computer monitors, displaying random bits of data, height, weight, blood type, dates of infusions, failed infusions, and even more than that.

Over a dozen individuals, clearly doctors, scientists, and medics were walking about the room, rushing around a single point in the room.

Two of the doctors were standing next to one another, one holding a syringe, while the other held a small metal canister. The two doctors were standing next to a bed…which was occupied by a young woman hooked up to an IV holding a strange translucent liquid in it, as well as several monitors that seemed to be reading her vitals.

An incredibly beautiful woman at that.

Her skin was pale, almost white in color, understandable since she likely has been underground for quite some time. Her feet were beautiful, no bones, nor muscles were pressing against the skin excessively, and her nails seemed to have been kept well, despite the fact there seemed to be no sign the nails were ever cut to begin with, almost as if they were perfect to begin with. The calves and shins were wrapped with the woman's pale white skin, so smooth looking, like silk. Her thighs seemed thicker than usual, but it was a welcome thickness, the same could be said for her waist…in fact, her figure as a whole was nearly divine, more perfect than the curves of an hourglass. Her abdomen was smooth, yet seemed to have a certain level of firmness about it…her breasts were absolutely gorgeous, easily somewhere between D-cup and DD-cup, her areolae and nipples were only a tad bit darker than her near white skin. Her shoulders seemed to have a perfect width apart from each other, and her arms were thin and lithe, slender, yet held firmness about it showing she was strong. Her hands were truly beautiful, and her nails, like the ones on her feet, seemed to be naturally perfect. Her neck was slender, not too thick, nor too thin…

She was incredibly beautiful, her face was slender, and somewhat heart shaped, her lips were soft, gentle, and serene. Her hair was astonishingly beautiful, and especially unique. At the tip of her hair, highlighting her gorgeous locks were white highlights, with the rest of her hair being a gorgeous mixture of crimson and rose red colors, her face being framed by a pair of onyx black bangs, with a few strands of the onyx hair coming across one of her eyes. Amazingly, the hair looked completely natural in every way, no awkward distortion between the changes in color, in fact, the shift between colors was absolutely perfect, and despite the fact her hair reached all the way to her ankles, it showed no signs of tangles, knots, or split ends.

But the doctors standing over her did not care for her looks, merely examining her physical condition for injuries or abnormalities as they began to draw blood through the syringe.

After the syringe had been properly filled with blood, the doctor removed it from her arm, and using a gentle hand cleaned off the tip of the needle before he hit a few latches on the side of the syringe, removing the vial of blood from the needle portion. The doctor looked to the doctor beside him as they opened the metal canister, and a mist clearly showing it was cold within the canister escaped. The doctor holding the vial of blood placed it into the canister carefully, before it was closed shut.

The doctor quickly walked away with the canister, while the other doctor turned towards the scientists standing in front of a monitor and spoke, "How are her vitals?"

One of the scientists looked up at the screen, "Normal, her heart rate is steady, along with her breathing and pulse. Thus far she has shown no signs of any physical discomfort as far as difficulties in bodily functions, and thankfully, the sedative does not appear to have lost its potency, she is still comatose, and so long as she does not gain an immunity to the sedative, even with her abilities, she should still remain unconscious."

The doctor nodded, "Good, Danzo-sama will be arriving within the hour, it would be most unfortunate if the test subject were to suffer any inconveniences so soon." the doctor began to walk away from the table towards the doorway to deliver his report.

'Beep…' the doctor stopped and turned around, looking towards the monitor curiously.

'Beep…beep…' the doctor frowned and walked over to it, and he looked towards the woman lying on the medical table. How curious, her heart rate seemed to have gone up a small amount.

He turned towards the scientist, "Her heart rate has increased, is this a normal occurrence?"

The scientist began to look at the screen, "No, but it does not appear to affect any of her other vitals, perhaps it was just a random-"

'Beep…beep…beep...'

The scientist looked towards another screen, which was hooked up to show brain activity, and their eyes widened as they saw her brain activity begin to rapidly rise up. The apparent head scientist walked up to the monitor and began to press keys to see what was happening…

'Beep…beep…beep…beep-beep-beep…'

Suddenly the monitor which read her pulse was skyrocketing. Soon the sound of beeping monitors resounded throughout the laboratory.

The doctor's eyes were wide, and he looked towards the table, and he felt a twinge of fear well up inside him…

The woman's eyes began to flutter gently as she slowly began to wake.

Without a second to spare, the doctor screamed, "Quickly! We need to increase the dosage of the sedative, now!"

Doctors and scientists scrambled about, albeit in an orderly fashion as they grabbed another IV bag, which was presumably the sedative as another doctor ran to begin removing the IV already attached to her.

"No, leave it!" the doctor looked to the doctor who had given the orders staring at him, "I said increase the sedative, not replace the sedative."

The doctor looked at the IV currently attached, it was still near full, before he looked at the other doctor, "But sir, this sedative is strong enough to put the Yonbi's Jinchuriki under, if we put another IV of sedative into her, it could kill her."

The doctor frowned, "Then you had better make sure she doesn't die…put the new IV in, and keep the old one in as well."

The doctor frowned, but sighed and nodded towards the medics who had retrieved the IV. The medics quickly inserted the needle part of the IV into her arm and held it up on the stand as the sedative began to drain into the woman.

The scientists looked at the monitors after several moments, only to see her heart rate, pulse, and brain activity increase, "It's not working, she is still waking up."

The doctor scowled, and looked towards the medics, "You, use your medical ninjutsu to put her back under."

The medics nodded their heads and quickly ran over, while scientists and doctors ran to the nozzles of the IV bags filled with sedative to allow more of it to flow into her.

As the doctors crowded around her, they did not notice as her eyes continued to flutter.

One medics eyes widened as they were performing a scan to determine what the cause of her sudden activity was, "Her temperatures rising, we need ice bags in her now."

Other doctors swarmed forward carrying ice bags, which they placed on her arms, chest, abdomen, her neck, anywhere they could on her body to lower her temperature, and hopefully put her back under.

All the while, the woman's eyes slowly fluttered open wide enough to reveal her eyes, her sclera was a faint opal white color, while her iris was a strange mix of colors, the outermost part being a deep reddish violet, with a ring of a more common shade of violet towards the area surrounding her onyx black circular pupil.

Her lips slowly began to moved, and she slowly spoke, "N-Naruto…sochi…" her eyes slowly began to flutter closed…

Only for them to snap wide open a second later, as her body was covered in a faint, but malevolent aura.

The guards on the other side of the door stood over their post, vigilant, unmoving.

"_AHHGGG!"_

Until they heard the screams of terror coming from behind the door.

* * *

><p>Wooh, this chapter was a LOT of work, trust me on that one, Hakkyou no Yami and I were wracking our brains trying to come up with stuff for this chapter, and for future ones. Now, note this story is going to be pretty damn different from the original one, from the first chapter, I think all of you can tell firsthand that simple truth.<p>

Now, we hope that you will read this story thoroughly, and review it afterwards...

AND NO...you cannot suggest any pairings for those who were thinking about suggesting them, the pairing has been planned out...and no we will not be giving any spoilers.

In addition, any questions you have can be directed to the reviews, and I am sure after this chapter you will have plenty of those questions, we may, or may not get to answering all of them, and in future chapters the questions may very well answer themselves.

Until our next chapter, please be patient, and please review...oh, and flamers, flame for legitimate reasons, and think clearly about what you are intending to flame about...otherwise you shall be ignored...

Ja-ne...


	3. Tearing Down the Root

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto in any way, shape or form, nor does my partner in writing Hakkyou no Yami, Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto...

**Oc's and Concepts:** The Original characters and concepts of this story were created by Hakkyou no Yami and myself, we worked very hard to create the original characters and the concepts, and we would appreciate that you do not use our Original Characters or our concepts without expressed permission from **BOTH** of us.

**Notice:** In case any of you are wondering, or have not noticed this story, along with just about any other story made by myself, and Hakkyou no Yami will be AU, the characters will be OOC, and above all else, we will NOT be following canon. We will extract elements FROM canon, but we will not be doing a rewrite of the canon storyline.

**Attention readers****: **Hakkyou no Yami and I give our sincerest apologies for taking so long to update this story, due to issues in both of our lives and in some cases the lives around us, in addition to the lasting scars caused by the fanfiction purge last year, we were hard pressed to update this story. This story will be completed to the end, that much we can say for certain.

In addition, recent events have allowed us to write more often than we have been able to do so in the last few months, so updates will become more frequent than before.

**Poll:** On my profile page there is a poll on whether or not I should do a rewrite of Naruto of the Wind Tunnel. The old version absolutely sickens me, but the idea behind the story is too good to simply pass off. Please vote in the poll.

My writing partner **Hakkyou no Yami** have been working tirelessly on the rewrites for Demonic Legends: Rise of the Inugami, and Demonic Legends: Calamity of the Frozen Storm...**Hakkyou no Yami **and I can say that the newer versions will surpass the old versions. We may or may not keep the old versions on the site.

Also, I will potentially be posting **NEW STORIES** depending on what occurs. Some of them may be one shots, others may be multi-chapter, but it all depends on what happens. I will be continuing with the stories I currently have, so do not fret.

**Note:** In the second chapter of Dark Legends: Ascension of the Abyssal Champion, there were spelling and grammatical errors which were pointed out to me by Lord of Daemons, the chapter has since been adjusted to fix those errors, the story is still the same, but grammar errors have been fixed, so feel free to go back and reread the chapter.

**Thank You...**

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><p>The guards standing watch jumped away from the door, and readied their weaponry as they heard the screams of agony from behind the door they were guarding.<p>

One of the guards reached up to their ear and spoke, '"We have a code red, I repeat, code red, all available units come here an-"

'AGHHH!' the sounds of agony continued to echo.

'BANG' the sounds of the door they had been guarding getting slammed against repeatedly was deafening.

The guards stepped back, "We need backup over here now!"

The two guards readied their weaponry as they awaited backup, the sounds of the trapped scientists and med-nin behind the door tearing through their very being.

They could only imagine the carnage on the other side.

In the lab…Moments Ago

The doctors, scientists, and med-nin in this base, in this particular laboratory had an objective given to them, and were expected to fulfill this to the letter.

They had followed their objective, performing their duties with the organization of a well-oiled machine. At every interval, they had ensured the subject lying on the table in the laboratory had been kept under sedation, never once allowing the subject to open their eyes, let alone awaken from their slumber.

When it came time for the implantations and inoculations upon the subject, they had performed that duty with the same diligence and zealous devotion to the task at hand. They had ensured that the subject suffered no adverse reactions to any of the injections, had ensured that each injection was pure and uncontaminated to maintain an unpolluted experiment.

Before any injection occurred, they ran dozens of tests on samples of her DNA, they tested her bone marrow, red blood cells, white blood cells, they even took inconsequential samples of her chakra network, and the results of each test were studied until the outcome of each test could be replicated without worry for error, and no concern for the experiment itself.

With each experiment, the results were studied down to the cellular level, blood and tissue samples were extracted from the subject. The results of these studies proved invaluable as they continued to perform their duties.

Each second of the process, each minute detail down to the last drop of DNA injected, or extracted from the subject was carefully monitored by the entire project. Not a single moment was left to chance, not a single event was left to chance.

Yet, all that work…all that planning.

It all meant nothing…the moment the subjects lips moved to utter a few words…the moment her eyes fluttered open…

The moment her eyes snapped open.

As the doctors, scientists, and med-nin crowded around her, trying to ensure she stay sedated…

Their lives were forfeit.

'SQUELCH!'

"AAAGHH!" the doctors and scientists tried to get as far away from the subject as possible, their eyes wide with horror.

For over half a dozen though, they were trapped, and they screamed in agony.

The one who had been giving orders earlier was amongst those trapped, his teeth grit as he tried to hold in his cries of pain as he looked down at his chest.

Tearing into his chest was a long tentacle-like appendage, covered with sharp thorn-like barbs, pulsing with the subject's lifeblood coursing through it.

The doctor's mouth opened in a vain attempt to take in air, only for blood to ooze out over his lips, dribbling down his chin as he gargled and choked. He gasped as he tried to grasp onto the tendril, the spines along its length stabbing into his fingertips, drawing further blood…only for the light to leave his eyes as his body slumped over.

The doctors and scientists who had succeeded in getting away only stared in horror, trembling as they beheld the events before them unfold.

The woman's hands trembled ever so slightly as her fingers struggled to grip the table she had been lying upon, her palms pressing against the table as she slowly pushed herself up.

Those still amongst the living stared in a petrified stupor as they looked at her back.

Growing out of her back like limbs on a tree, seven long tentacle-like limbs snaked out, stabbing into the still twitching bodies of the doctors, med-nin, and scientists who were too slow to get out of the way when she unleashed them. The limbs twisted like a vile coil, covered in thorny barbs that seemed to glisten with a sharpened edge.

The woman blinked slowly, and she stretched out her arms, after years of disuse, allowing the muscles to pop and the groans and creaks of her unused physicality echoed as the sound bounced off of the metallic walls of the laboratory.

The woman slowly turned her body, letting her leg fall off the edge of the table, dangling off the edge. She slowly continued to turn and dragged her other foot off the table, allowing her other leg to fall off the edge, and hang next to the other leg. She continued to sit on the table, her legs dangling off the edge, the tendrils on her back moving the bodies of the dead scientists aside, removing them from her sight.

The woman's hands pressed against the table she sat upon as she slowly began to slide herself off.

As her feet touched the floor, she seemed to stumble for a moment, the tendrils coming out of her back reacting slightly, as if readying to catch her as she fell.

However, she quickly righted herself, her body adapting quickly to its sudden use after it was in hibernation for so long.

She took in a deep breath; her chest rising as her lungs filled with air…and her chest fell as she exhaled

One of the doctors panicked and tried to make a run for the door.

At that exact moment, the tendrils coming out of Kushina's back snapped to the sides, sending the bodies that they had impaled crashing into the walls.

Or in the case of one body, right into the running form of the doctor who tried to flee.

"AHHGGG!"

The woman's eyes widened as she heard the scream of pain, and she snapped her head to the side in the direction of the scream.

Trapped underneath a body, pressed against the wall, a doctor whimpered in pain as they tried to push the body off of them.

The woman's eyes narrowed and the tendrils on her back twitched and snaked in the direction she was looking.

The doctor sniveled in pain as they felt agonizing pain rip through them the moment the body smashed into them. The initial contact had obviously broken several ribs, but when they smashed into the wall behind, they felt their entire body be lit up with the most horrible pain they had ever felt in their life, as if their spine was stabbing into their flesh and being twisted into a malformed knot.

The doctor tried to pry the body off of them in a vain attempt to escape.

"Grrgghhhrrr."

The doctor froze as he heard the sound of what they could only describe as an enraged snarl. Swallowing, he slowly raised his head towards the place he heard the angered snarl.

The woman stood over him, the savage and bloodthirsty look in her eyes, her teeth bared like a predator ready to tear into their prey, and the tendrils on her back, each one sporting a spear-like tip at the end, all pointing directly at him.

The doctor whimpered, "P-please I-"

The woman shot her hand forward, grabbing the man by the face, her snarls growing louder as eyes glinted further with bloodlust and vicious intent.

The doctor's muffled whimpers, his muffled begging, echoed throughout the laboratory.

The woman bared her teeth, before she opened her mouth, and let loose a deafening war cry, "RAAAGHH!" and shot her head forward…sinking her jaws into the doctors throat.

The doctors muffled screams of pain as the woman's teeth cut through his skin and flesh, tearing open his throat as if it were nothing more than a tender piece of cooked meat.

The woman dug her canines into his throat, cutting through flesh and vein, blood spurting out from the gaping wound as she tore the meat from his throat, dribbling down her chin, the sinew and muscle separating from the man as she pulled her head back, taking the doctors throat out with her.

The doctor's muffled gasps of agony were heard, his blood pouring out of the gaping wound where his throat once was as he fell limp in the woman's grip.

The surviving lab staff stared in horror as the woman tore out the doctor's throat.

And they began to whimper as she slowly turned her gaze towards them.

The woman's eyes were twisted in a savage bloodthirst, her teeth still bared, the doctors blood coating her lips and dribbling down her chin, dripping off and splattering onto her bare breasts.

The doctors whimpered, one of which stuttered as they spoke, "P-please…h-have mercy."

The woman's eyes twisted into a savage glare, and she roared, "RAAAGHH!" and shot towards them.

In the last moments of the scientists…the doctors…and the med-nin…they learned one of the absolute truths of the world.

Kushina Uzumaki has no mercy.

Outside the Lab

The guards backed further away from the door as they heard they heard the staff inside get torn to pieces by Kushina.

One of the guards looked at the one who made the call for backup, "Where are they?"

The guard glanced at him and snapped, "They said they would be here-" the guard stopped as their ears perked up and they turned around.

They heard the sound of running steps coming from the halls behind them.

A few moments later, over a dozen ROOT ANBU poured into the hallway in front of the laboratory.

The guards seemed to give a sigh of relief, the one who made the call stepped forward and saluted, "Guard Unit 01102, reporting sir."

The apparent lead ANBU stepped up, "Report."

The guard stood at attention, "The subject has become active sir."

The ANBU was silent for a moment, "What evidence do you have to support th-"

'_RAAAGHH!'_

The guards and ANBU readied their weaponry as the door creaked, and they saw a slight opening begin to form as it seemed as though somebody on the other side was trying to pry the door open.

The lead ANBU snapped, "Never mind." they turned their head, "Katon jutsu on the doorway, weld it shut."

Two ANBU stepped forward, and they began to perform hand signs, "Katon: Hi Sou…" the two ANBU inhaled, and as they exhaled, a stream of fire shot at the door, slowly welding the door shut.

The lead ANBU continued speaking, "All others, cover any possible exit…the subject must not be allowed to escape under any circumstances."

The ANBU nodded, "Hai!" and went to perform their duties, covering both hallways and readying their weaponry.

The guards and ANBU commander simply watched as the door was welded shut, and listened as the banging on the other side of the door increased.

In the Lab

The laboratory underneath Konoha had been funded by missions done by ROOT that Konoha deemed too inhumane, or too dangerous for their Shinobi to accomplish. The funds poured into it were enough to end the hunger, poverty, and fund entire divisions of the Konoha corps, from ANBU Black ops, to Torture & Interrogation, from the Medical corps, to a fully funded police force. The laboratory had been outfitted with the latest technological advances, been given every single bit of the newest and most sophisticated biological enhancements known to ningen. Every medical technique from every village that ROOT had infiltrated had been installed in this single laboratory at the behest of the head of ROOT, Danzo.

It took less than a minute for the entire lab to be turned to rubble.

The screen monitors which once were lit with data and readings were cracked, sparks flying off them, the lights of the room dimmed as the bulbs shattered from the force of Kushina's tendrils crashing through them as they slammed ruthlessly into the forms of the staff and coworkers who once surrounded her unconscious form.

Speaking of the staff, their remains were scattered all across the laboratory. Some in whole pieces, others bifurcated and dismembered.

The arm of one such scientist had smashed through one of the screens, the blood from the torn limb dripping onto the keyboards and dripping onto the blood soaked floor.

Standing in the center of the lab where the table once occupied, Kushina stood in the center as she breathed, her tendrils waving about as they slowly began to recede back into her flesh. The flesh seemed to mold back into her skin, like a drop of water returned to the source of which it came from, until it steadied and disappeared from sight.

Kushina herself was covered in the gore of her goes, her hands and forearms coated with the lifeblood of those whose hearts she tore from their chests, dripping off her and joining the blood pooling up on the floors, across her bare breasts, the blood splattered as she ripped limb from torso, and flowed down her body like a river of death. Her face splattered with blood as her teeth tore into her opponents.

As Kushina slowed her breathing, her eyes focused as she stretched her neck, allowing it to pop as the strain from disuse still remained, until it had no pain in it whatsoever.

Kushina's eyes looked about the room, and she breathed in the stale air of the laboratory, now hinted with the stench of fresh blood. Her mind taking in all the sights and scents around her…and she began to look upon herself, letting the events of her awakening play out.

When she awoke, she was not thinking as clearly, no, she was blinded by a bloodlust unlike any she had ever felt in her life, so she was not truly aware of what she was doing as she was doing it.

Because of that, she had no idea how she made those tendrils come out of her body, much less how she used them to begin with.

Kushina had never used such an ability before, she knew for a fact that particular ability was not in her repertoire, hell, nothing like that was in her skill set.

Kushina looked over her body in confusion, _'What did those bastards do to me?'_

She narrowed her eyes as she looked where she was, this was not the Konoha hospital, she was not even sure she was in Konoha. For all she knew she could be outside of Hi no Kuni, outside of the elemental nations even. But if that were the case…

Where was her Naruto?

Kushina brought a hand up to her chest as she muttered, "Naruto-sochi." her eyes lit up with longing, love…and something more.

Kushina clenched her hand into a fist, wherever she was, it was clear that being here kept her from her sochi, and that was something she could not allow.

Kushina grit her teeth and looked to the door that held her in, she needed to get out of this place. Once she did, she would quickly head to Konoha, knowing her sochi was likely within the walls of Konoha…she could not allow this.

Snarling, she walked up to the door and shot her hands forward, digging her fingertips in between the seam that kept the door shut, and she hissed angrily as she began to pry the doors open, with little success.

She cursed and roared in anger as she stepped back, she was still weakened from the years of captivity. She growled underneath her breath, there was no keypad to open the door, and likely the computers she had just destroyed were the means to open the door.

She then remembered how she killed many of the doctors and med-nin, they were heavy, but her tendrils not only ripped through them, but they threw them with such strength that it seemed like they were throwing a pebble. Perhaps she could pry the doors open with those, if only she knew how to call them out then-

As Kushina thought of the tendrils coming out, three tore from her back, like a root from a seedling, and they hovered around Kushina.

Kushina looked at them briefly, _'How did I do that, all I did was think an-" _Kushina's thoughts were silenced as she realized.

She had _thought_ of them coming out of her body, and they had done so.

She smirked slightly at that, and looked at the door that she was previously unable to open, _'Pry the door open.'_

In a single motion, the three tendrils shot at the door, stabbing into the seam keeping the door shut, and gradually, the metal doors keeping her in were slowly being pried open.

Kushina grinned as she shot her own hands forward, and began to do the same, trying to pry the doors open as well, she was filled with an overwhelming sense of euphoria as the doors were sliding more and more open, she could now partially see the other side of the doorway.

When she did, she saw many individuals on the other side, two of which were performing hand seals.

'_Katon: Hi Sou…"_

All of a sudden, a stream of fire shot from the mouths of the two individuals on the other side, right at the seam of the door Kushina was currently trying to pry open.

Kushina curse and tried harder to pry the doors open, the tendrils coming out of her back also trying harder to pry the doors open, only for the effort to be proven futile as the metal was welded together by the two streams of fire.

Snarling, Kushina began to bang her hands against the door, _'No! I will not let you keep me in here!_'

Behind Kushina, the ground started to crack.

Kushina kept smashing her fists against the door as her tendrils tried to pry the doors open, _'I will not let you keep me from my sochi!'_

Kushina did not notice the ground behind her explode upwards.

Outside the Lab

The ANBU continued welding the door shut, the commander and guards watching.

The commander signaled two ANBU, "Seal up the entrance, make sure that the door cannot be breached until we say so."

Two more ANBU stepped up and performed hand signs, "Doton: Doryuh-"

Suddenly the metal doors exploded outward, the metallic barriers into the lab being torn through and sent flying through the air as if they were no lighter than a pebble.

The ANBU using the Katon technique were sliced through by the metallic chunks of shrapnel, along with the Guards and one of the ANBU about to use the Doton technique.

Near the back, the other ANBU used shunshin to evade the flying chunks of steel, some were luckier than others.

One such ANBU tried to use Shunshin, only for the steel to stab into his side and tear clean through their abdomen, and bifurcated their body, letting their entrails spill out and fly through the air before gravity sent their remains smashing into the floor.

The Commander and the other Doton user had been quick enough to escape, and they turned to prepare a counter offensive…only for them to gasp in agony as a stabbing pain tore through them before they were torn apart as the thing that stabbed through them tore through their bodies, growing larger as it continued forward.

The remaining ANBU tried to avoid the incoming source of destruction, but it seemed as if the thing striking at them had a mind of its own, following them with ruthless abandon, tearing through them like a hot knife through butter.

Two ANBU went through hand signs, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" they both fired off the jutsu, and two massive fireballs went hurtling towards the incoming destructive force.

With an explosion of fire, for a brief moment, it seemed as though the attack had ended the existence of the force tearing through their comrades.

The ANBU however remained vigilant, already weaving through a second technique.

Beneath their feet, the ground itself began to crack.

The two ANBU finished weaving seals, "Katon: Goka-AAGHH!" one of the ANBU screamed in agony, as a horrid and deep stabbing pain tore through their very being.

The other ANBU jumped away, and stared at their comrade, their hidden eyes widening in horror as they saw what had happened to their comrade.

Tearing out of the floor, spikes of unknown origin ripped through their comrade, ripping through limb and bone, while simultaneously keeping the ANBU still amongst the living. The ANBU's screams of agony echoed throughout the halls.

The ANBU readied their weapon, and was about to make a break for it.

Only for their body to seize up…frozen in place as a tearing pain ripping through their spine, traveling through their ribs and inner organs.

The last thing their saw was what remained of their heart, trapped upon the black root that tore through them.

And then all they saw was darkness.

The corpses of the dead ANBU coated the floors, the walls, all in differing manners of dismemberment. Some were torn to pieces, others simply impale on the black roots, pinned against the wall.

All but one, a single ANBU, whimpering in agony.

The ANBU panted and whimpered, sobbing in pain as their blood dripped from the holes in their flesh, trickling down the black roots stabbing through them. Their eyes tearing up as blood poured out from their eyelids, one of the roots having cut up, slashing through part of their skull, just barely missing a vital spot.

Their eyes darted around, trying to find any survivors, to no avail.

Suddenly, their gaze caught movement in the shadows, and they tried to whimper, say something, to beg for help.

Only for them to see the outline of the figure in the shadows…

They were filled with indescribable horror as the figure walked towards them. They shook and whimpered, trying to vainly move, trying to flee as the figure came closer and closer to them.

The ANBU began to sob as their bloody tears fell down their face, dripping off of their chin.

The figure exited the shadows, revealing the form of Kushina Uzumaki as she stared impassively at the vulnerable ANBU before her.

Her eyes glanced across their form, before she snarled as she stepped forward, her hand shooting out.

Tearing out the ANBU's throat.

Kushina watched intently as the ANBU gargled and choked, the blood from their throat pouring out like a vile fountain, the ANBU's throat still oozing blood as it was gripped between her fingertips.

She scoffed in disgust at the ANBU, before she threw his bloody throat to the floor…and turned her attention to the instruments of their destruction.

She started her observation by looking at the location that was just a few feet behind her when she was trying and failing to pry the door open, and the black roots that tore out from it.

Kushina looked around, and beheld the carnage created by these roots, and she could not help but wonder what exactly they were.

She walked up to one of the roots, coated in the blood of the ANBU it had torn through, and she looked it over with a careful eye.

The wood was little different than any other tree, but the ridges of the bark seemed to flow more like a river, rather than the layered and porous ridges she saw on almost every other tree, the bark on these roots seemed to flow like the current of a river, the swirls and arches of the bark resembling a winding stream of sorts. But that wasn't all; the color of the roots was something she had never seen on any tree in her life, the color was like black ash, like burnt stone, no tree that she had ever seen in her life had such a color tone.

Kushina continued to look at the root, until she suddenly stopped as she stared at something blemishing the root, something unlike any plant she had ever seen. The closest she could compare it to was a knot in the wood, but it seemed more like a pod than anything else, and down the center of the pod, there was a slight slit of some kind. She traced her fingers across the pod, and looked at the edges of it. Surrounding it were strange ridges which seemed almost like veins, creating as the river current-like ridges coalescing into the vein-like shape.

Kushina couldn't help but look among the length of the roots, similar pods covered the roots, some larger than others.

Kushina looked back at the source of the roots, and what they had done, she had wanted the door opened, she wanted the ones who dared get in her way of getting back to her child dead, and they had done as she wanted.

'_Did I do this?'_ Kushina could not help but ask herself.

First she was able to force spear tipped tentacles out of her back at will, now she was able to call upon this…black Mokuton?

What in Kami's name had been done to her?

As Kushina focused on the root, she did not notice six more ANBU come out of the halls.

The six ANBU turned towards the direction of the roots that had torn through the walls, and saw Kushina, "The subject. Restrain her!"

Two ANBU swiftly stepped forward and shot through hand signs, "Doton: Seishi!"

The floor in front of them split open, and two pillars of earth erupted out of the ground, shooting off towards Kushina.

Hearing the orders given to the ANBU, Kushina snapped her body around as she prepared to attack.

But just as the pillars of earth came at her, the ground was torn asunder, and a massive root the width of a tree trunk shot from the ground, blocking the path of the earth pillars, causing them to shatter upon impact.

The ANBU covered their faces as the dust created from the pillars failed strike was shot back at them.

The ANBU then looked back at the obstruction which had blocked their strikes path.

The tree-like root had three of the pods on its surface, facing the exact location of the six ANBU which had just arrived.

The ANBU stared at the root, and were about to move.

When suddenly, the pods began to quiver, the slit in the center of all three slowly starting to widen.

The ANBU readied their weaponry, while the two that had first used their techniques began to go through hand seals.

Before they could get to the final seal though, the pods snapped completely open.

The ANBU stared in a mixture of shock and confusion as the pods contents were revealed to them. They expected that once the pod opened that more black roots would shoot out towards them, and they would be forced to defend themselves.

They did not expect that inside the pod, there would be a fully evolved Sharingan eye.

But…it seemed slightly different from the typical Sharingan eye.

The sclera of the eye was a milky white color, but around the edge of the iris, there was a black ring that seemed to bleed into the sclera itself. The iris was a deep and vile blood red, and the ring connecting the three tomoe in the eye seemed warped and broken. The tomoe themselves were distorted, and the tail end of the tomoe seemed to curve like a sickle.

The ANBU could not help but stare at the eyes as they began to move inside the pods.

The eyes seemed to glance around the room for a moment, taking in the sights around them, before all three eyes snapped their gaze at them, the pupils dilating.

The last mistake those ANBU ever made was looking into the eyes.

Suddenly the ANBU stiffened, and they began to shake, they looked at their arms in a panic, and began to swat at themselves, cowering and whimpering as they started to panic.

Suddenly, the ANBU began to scream as they grabbed their heads and began to dig their nails into their scalp, scratching at their head until blood began to soak their hair and drip down their cheeks. One ANBU began to claw at their arms until the muscle and bone was revealed, even then they still did not stop scratching.

The ANBU suddenly pulled out a kunai each, and began to drag the sharp edge across their skin, peeling the skin and flesh off as if it were the skin of an apple, their flesh and bone bare as the blood leaked from their arms.

All the while, as this was taking place, Kushina was staring forward, her vision blocked by the immense black root that had protected her from the ANBU's initial assault on her person.

Yet she could see everything.

She could see as the ANBU ripped at their own flesh in some vain attempt to get at a hidden enemy, their cries of agony muffled as they began to claw at their throats, their blood starting to pour into their lungs, drowning them in it.

She could see as they slowly descended into madness, and their inevitable death.

She could see as the light left their eyes…through the Sharingan eyes on the root that had saved her life.

Kushina shook as she looked at the roots, and she reached up to her face, staring at her fingertips, a single question going through her mind.

'_What did they do to me?'_

Tendrils coming out her back, and now this twisted fusion of Mokuton and Sharingan?

How in Kami's name had this happened? She didn't have any bloodline she was aware of, and she knew neither of her parents were Senju or Uchiha, nor were they of whatever clan had the ability to make tendrils come out of their back.

Kushina kept staring at her fingertips, contemplating what could possibly be the reason for her having these abilities.

Everything about her situation was beyond strange, first she had woken up in a hidden laboratory, now she was using these unusual abilities that she had never seen before.

Kushina clenched her hands into a fist and she looked up, she would worry about what had happened to her later, for now, she had to find her son.

First, she had to escape this wretched place.

Kushina started to walk around the giant tree root in her way, and looked down the adjacent hallways.

Frowning, she tried to think of which way would likely be the exit.

As she looked down the hall to her left, the one to her right was echoing with the sound of many footsteps.

Coming down the hallway were over a dozen ROOT ANBU. As they headed down the hall, they saw Kushina at the end of it.

The ANBU towards the front stopped and performed a ram seal; "Kai." on the ANBU's vest, several previously unseen seals glowed for a moment, before a cloud of smoke erupted from them.

The ANBU jumped back and shot their hands forward as the clouds dispersed, grabbing something in the cloud of smoke and bringing their arm back, revealing their hand gripped around a transparent glass bottle, filled with what was assumedly water.

The ANBU uncorked the bottle and threw it in the air, the water falling out of it as the ANBU swiftly shot through hand seals, "Suiton: Mizu Tama."

The water condensed into a ball, and shot towards Kushina.

Kushina heard the ANBU yell out the jutsu and turned her attention to the ANBU just as the sphere of water was flying towards her with great speed.

Kushina saw the incoming ball of water fly at her with speed she knew she could not hope to dodge, and based on the chakra she felt being used for the technique, it was something that could definitely injure her, and since she had no clothing to wear, no armor or even a cloak to lessen the blow, it would be even more devastating.

As these thoughts whirled throughout Kushina's thoughts, the pools of blood beneath her, created by the still bleeding carcasses of the ROOT ANBU who had been dispatched by her Mokuton-like abilities, began to bubble.

The sphere of water sped towards Kushina, the sphere turning into a more oval shape as it sped at Kushina, the end pointed at Kushina becoming a sharper point, which would no doubt increase the damage done by the technique.

Time seemed to freeze as Kushina tried moving out of the way in hopes of lessening the damage of the technique.

The water technique closed in on Kushina, there was no way that Kushina would be able to avoid a dangerous blow.

Just as the technique was within a foot of Kushina's position, the water suddenly dispersed as its path was obstructed, causing the water to scatter about, not one drop ever touching Kushina.

The ANBU jumped back in shock as they readied their kunai, while their comrades did the same.

Kushina stared forward at the object that had obstructed the technique, and looked down at its origin.

Shooting out of the puddle of blood, a crimson spike that shimmered in the dim lighting of the base had sprang up, jutting in the path of the Mizu Tama just as it was about to strike her.

Her eyes scanned the surface of the crimson spike, and she glanced at the ground around the spike. There were no cracks in the ground, suggesting that it was not another of the roots created by that black Mokuton, and there were also no pods on it, so that was ruled out. She briefly considered that perhaps it was an earth technique, after all, she seemed to possess the Mokuton to some degree, it was a fair guess that she also had Doton abilities that reacted similarly, but there was no warping of the puddle that suggested that earth had shot up through the floor.

As she scanned her eyes across the crimson spike and puddle of blood, a single droplet of water from the Mizu Tama fell into the puddle, causing a ripple to occur in the puddle of blood…

Which then traveled up the crimson spike.

Kushina's eyes widened briefly as realization struck her, _'It's blood?'_ she stared up at the crimson spike which had stopped the Mizu Tama.

A spike of blood had protected her from the Mizu Tama technique? Could she manipulate blood as well?

The ANBU saw Kushina's moment of distraction, and quickly performed a second Ram seal; "Kai." two seals on their chest glowed brightly, and from each seal a cloud of smoke. The ANBU shot both hands forward and pulled back, showing their hands gripped around two glass bottles filled with water. Rather than uncorking them, they simply threw the bottles at the ground, causing the glass to shatter, and the water to spring upwards. The ANBU ran through hand signs again, "Suiton: Mizu Ya."

The water shot up and converged in a swirl, before suddenly shooting at Kushina like an arrow.

As the arrow of water shot at her, the ANBU readied several kunai and Shuriken and sent them flying through the air, Kushina being the target.

Kushina's attention immediately turned to the water technique flying at her.

The spike of blood reacted to her thoughts, and the tip of the spike suddenly lengthened and bent at a perfect ninety degree angle, and a second spike of blood shot out at the water arrow, dispersing it, sending it flying through the air just before it struck Kushina.

However, the blood was not able to move fast enough to block the incoming kunai and shuriken, which were flying at Kushina just as the water spear dispersed.

Kushina could not move fast enough, her body still weak from years of not being used.

Kushina tried to jump back in a vain attempt to avoid the incoming projectiles as the spike of blood tried to block some of the projectiles.

To everyone's shock though, each and every kunai and shuriken was knocked completely off course, impaling the walls and floor.

What shocked them though was not that they had been blocked, but that it was the water of the technique that had been flying at her moments ago, which had blocked the projectiles.

Kushina glanced at the flattened spheres of water that had been created, blocking the projectiles before even touching her, knowing she was vulnerable enough to need protection.

This thought coursed through Kushina's psyche as she looked between the blood spike, and the water floating around her, _'I wonder.'_

The ANBU did not pause for a moment, they all swiftly went through hand signs, while others readied their weaponry, throwing them at Kushina, while the ones performing the hand seals cried out, "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu."

The projectiles suddenly tripled in number as they flew at Kushina, to the eyes of the ANBU, vulnerable to the massive assault of kunai and shuriken.

They were dead wrong.

Kushina lowered into a stance and she began to move her arms in a flowing manner, before she sent a single palm strike out.

The flattened spheres of water spun out of their sphere shape, and shot through the air like a snake through a river, slashing through the incoming projectiles.

Kushina then stood up straight and swung her other arm, before sending a second palm strike forward.

The blood spike suddenly shot through the air, arcing left and right, clashing with the projectiles, arcing like a bolt of lightning.

As a dozen of the projectiles started to come closer to her, Kushina's gaze snapped towards them.

Before the kunai and shuriken could touch her, the puddle of blood beneath her feet sent several arcing blood spikes up at her, slicing the projectiles in half and causing them to scatter all across the hall.

The ANBU drew their blades and ran at Kushina, in their mind, if projectile weaponry and ninjutsu did not work, perhaps kenjutsu would.

Kushina saw them rushing at her, and she swung both of her arms as they came at her.

The blood pool beneath her sent up a long rope of blood that coiled around her arm, and the water did the same, a long rope of water wrapping around her arm as she swung her arm.

The ANBU swung their blades, charging their chakra through them.

Kushina chose that moment to strike, sending the whip of blood at the frontal ANBU.

The ANBU saw the incoming whip and tried to slice through it, thinking that the blood would not halt their progress.

The clang of their blade against the blood rope told them otherwise.

Before the ANBU could react, the rope of blood suddenly sharpened the edge that was connecting with their blade, and sliced through it.

And lopped their head from their shoulders.

The remaining ANBU jumped away from the rope of blood as it sliced at them. The headless body of their former comrade falling over as their head rolled across the floor.

Kushina then swung the whip of water at those remaining ANBU who still persisted to charge at her.

The ANBU had clearly learned from the mistakes of their fallen comrade and dodged out of the way of the water whip instead of foolishly attempting to cut through it.

Kushina only smirked as she suddenly swung both arms causing a ripple to go through the blood whip and the water whip.

Two of the ANBU saw the ripple through the water and blood whip, and despite the fact their enemy was in front of them, they turned around and looked back at the whips.

The last thing they saw were two scythe-like blades made of blood and water swinging at them.

The sound of something cutting through flesh and bone alerted the remaining ANBU, and after a quick glance, several ducked below the swinging scythe-like ends of the whips.

One ANBU bent over backwards as the whips sliced over their head, cutting through their extended sword as they skidded across the ground on their knees.

Two other ANBU were not swift enough, and ended up getting bisected, each half of their body, both top and bottom being sent flying through the air as the bladed ends of the whip slashed through them.

The ANBU recovered quickly and readied themselves.

Meanwhile, Kushina lowered herself into a combat stance, and shot at the remaining ANBU, the whips retracting until only the blades remained out, while the rest of the whips wrapped around her arms. The blades at the end looked like the blade of a scythe, one composed of water, the other of blood.

The ANBU whose blade had been cut by the whips flipped up, and charged chakra through their blade, creating a curved chakra blade where the blade had been cut off. The ANBU shot at Kushina, intending to strike her down.

Kushina saw the incoming ANBU and ducked under their strike, while swinging her own blades at the ANBU.

The ANBU flipped over Kushina, and swung their blade again; Kushina responded swiftly and swung the water blade, which clashed against the blade the ANBU swung. To her surprise, it did not cut through it.

Kushina narrowed her eyes as the two blades clashed, and she saw the shimmer on the edge of the blade, a shimmer not found in normal chakra, _'Elemental chakra?'_ the shimmer certainly suggested some sort of elemental chakra was allowing the ANBU to clash against her blade instead of cutting clean through it like before.

Kushina cursed inwardly, and swung her blood blade at the ANBU directly. The ANBU saw this and used their blade to push themselves away just as the blood blade struck at them. The ANBU barely avoided the blade as it sliced their mask, causing cracks to run across it.

As their feet hit the ground, their mask started to fall off them, revealing their face, a slightly deep gash passing across their cheek.

Kushina narrowed her eyes and swung her blades again, the ANBU meeting each blade strike with their own. The ANBU swung their blade at Kushina, only for her to block it with her blood blade, and she swung at the ANBU with her water blade. The ANBU just barely avoided the strike again, this time gaining a cut across their brow.

Kushina jumped back, as did the ANBU, both of them staring at one another as they readied themselves for a second round of strikes against the other.

Kushina frowned inwardly, the ANBU was not as easily bested as the others, and she still had not recovered from her body's hibernation. All she had managed to do to the ANBU was damage their blade, cut their face an-

Kushina's eyes widened briefly as she looked at the ANBU, and saw the blood trickle down the ANBU's face from the two deep cuts on their face. She then looked back at her blood blade.

The ANBU shot at Kushina, their sword at the ready, and they swung hard and fast.

Kushina shot her hand out in an open grip, pointed at the ANBU, while her water blade was at the ready.

Suddenly, the ANBU froze in place, trapped in the air mid swing, their face contorted in pain as they grit their teeth.

Kushina's eyes widened and she allowed a mild smirk before she began to close her grip and slowly lift up her arm.

The ANBU seemed to be trying to cry out in pain, but was unable to, their body starting to levitate higher in the air.

Kushina closed her fist entirely, and smirked, before ripping her arm back in her direction.

The result was the ANBU screaming in agony as their skin tore open, and a shower of blood spurted out, flying about in a crimson mist.

The remaining ANBU all backed away in shock as the blood converged in the palm of Kushina's hands, forming a crimson sphere composed of the blood of the ANBU.

The ANBU continued to convulse, their skin growing pale as their life blood left them, their body becoming like a drained and dried husk with every passing second.

Finally, the ANBU's body fell to the ground, the last of their blood leaving their carcass.

The ANBU stared in horror as their gaze shifted between the corpse of their comrade, and the form of Kushina, swirling the sphere of blood above the palm of her hand.

Kushina looked at the sphere of blood, a glint or pride in her eyes, _'So that's how it works.'_ Kushina kept the sphere swirling, the crimson lifeblood shimmering in the bases dim lighting.

The remaining ANBU broke free from their horrified stupor, and quickly ran through hand signs, charging their chakra as they readied their technique.

Kushina saw them get ready to use a jutsu on her, and narrowed her eyes. She was not going to let them have a chance. She allowed the whips of blood and water unravel from her arms and join the crimson sphere she was holding in her hand, and she brought her other hand to the edge of the sphere.

In a single motion, she separated the sphere from one, into two smaller spheres of blood. Kushina clenched her hands, causing the spheres to ripple and distort, as if a maelstrom had been created inside of each sphere.

The ANBU ended on their final seal, "Futon: Hitofuki no Shitsunen." the two ANBU inhaled, their chest expanded, and they readied to exhale.

Only for the two rippling spheres of blood to explode outward, creating a dozen crimson spikes of blood each, pointed at the ANBU…which flew through the air at the ANBU…

Their lives ended before they could finish their technique.

The ANBU fell over dead as the blood spikes dispersed, joining the growing pool of blood beneath each ANBU as their own life blood drained from their bodies via the gaping holes in their flesh.

As the blood pools grew, Kushina relaxed her stance, sighing as she stretched her arms, and looked at the corpses of the ANBU littering the hallway.

It was fortunate for her she had been able to figure out how her newfound ability worked, as she was not sure how to use her others in the situation she had been in with this particular batch of ANBU. While yes, it was certainly possible that she may have activated the needed abilities by instinct, she knew she would not be able to rely on that in the future. Not if she planned on being the mother her sochi deserved.

She absentmindedly brought a hand to her chest, her eyes distant, "Naruto-sochi…" she sighed heavily and moved to continue onward.

All the while, thoughts ran through her head, specifically on her newfound powers.

First she had awoken with multiple tendrils ripping out of her back and stabbing into several doctors, scientists, and med-nin who were no doubt performing sick and deranged tests upon her person, which would explain why she had such powers to begin with. While at first her ability to conjure these tendrils was instinctive, she managed to partially figure out how to conjure them at will as she tried to pry the doors of the laboratory open.

As she tried to leave the lab, and those ANBU tried their best to keep her contained, her anger revealed another of her abilities, again, activated instinctively. The ground beneath her feet ripped apart, and from it, black roots tore from it, and ripped the door apart like a hungry wolf tore through a rabbit. At first she thought the roots was a sign of Mokuton, and while she may be right, she knew that if that were the case, she was only half right. The Mokuton was black, like ash, or stone, and the bark on the roots seemed to flow like the current of a river. Not to mention those pods all along the length of the root.

Inside each pod, there was a Sharingan eye, and she was able to see through each eye.

And now, this new set of abilities, the ability to manipulate blood and water at a whim, shape it, warp it, move it, it was something she had never heard of before. While the Nidaime Hokage was a master of Suiton ninjutsu, she had not quite heard of water manipulation to the extent she had just done, and she had most certainly never heard of manipulating blood as she had done.

However the biggest question she had on the blood and water manipulation was not how she could do it, she figured the scientists had done something to her to give her these abilities. Her biggest question was if the manipulation of blood and water were two separate abilities, or if two examples of the same ability, if they were different from one another, did they have their limits…and if they were the same, then what else could she manipulate in the manner she could manipulate them?

The plethora of questions continued to course through Kushina's psyche with unrelenting intensity.

Until she forced her psyche to silence, _'I don't have time for this, I can worry about these powers later.'_ she continued onward, her eyes burning with intensity, _'Until my Sochi is back in my arms, unharmed, nothing else matters.'_

Kushina continued onward, either not noticing, or not caring as her path was followed by the puddles of blood, and the increasing growth of the black roots.

Kushina's lips moved slowly, and she uttered a single phrase, "Hold on sochi…Kaa-chan is coming."

* * *

><p>Ok, now that the chapter is done, both myself and my partner Hakkyou no Yami realize you will have many questions…let us start with your first concerns<p>

1. Kushina constantly thinking about how she did what she did...what would you do if you suddenly woke up after an indefinite amount of time in a location you were unfamiliar with and suddenly started using abilities you know for a fact you never had the apability for, and no idea how you got the ability in the first place...please, answer that.

2. Kushina's calmness in the face of her new abilities...she is a Shinobi...do you really think something like her powers would cause her to panic and do something stupid?

3. Kushina's quickness in figuring out her new abilities...again, she is a Shinobi, she saw a pattern in her abilities and herself, and played upon that to see if she could use her newfound abilities at will instead of instinctive.

4. Kushina's singular focus of getting to her child...Kushina is a mother, that really needs no further explanatiopn on her focus on her child.

5. Is Kushina a former Jinchuriki in this one...**NO SHE MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT!**

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-dracohalo117

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-TheDemonKingNaruto

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-livezinshadowz

-Shadow Kurogane

-tibo

-Obito the III

-Leaf Ranger

-King of the Fallen

-VFSNAKE

-Saito Namikaze Reborn

-Vaanarash

**Challenges**

-Hakkyou no Yami's Various Challenges...Dark Naruto Challenges

-Mystic 6 Tailed Naruto's Various Challenges…

-dracohalo117 Various Challenges…Naruto Hates Yondaime…Naruto Quits Shinobi Life

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	4. I'm a what?

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto in any way, shape or form, nor does my partner in writing Hakkyou no Yami, Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto...

**Oc's and Concepts:** The Original characters and concepts of this story were created by Hakkyou no Yami and myself, we worked very hard to create the original characters and the concepts, and we would appreciate that you do not use our Original Characters or our concepts without expressed permission from **BOTH** of us.

**Notice:** In case any of you are wondering, or have not noticed this story, along with just about any other story made by myself, and Hakkyou no Yami will be AU, the characters will be OOC, and above all else, we will NOT be following canon. We will extract elements FROM canon, but we will not be doing a rewrite of the canon storyline.

**Poll:** On my profile page there is a poll on whether or not I should do a rewrite of Naruto of the Wind Tunnel. The old version absolutely sickens me, but the idea behind the story is too good to simply pass off. Please vote in the poll.

My writing partner **Hakkyou no Yami** have been working tirelessly on the rewrites for Demonic Legends: Rise of the Inugami, and Demonic Legends: Calamity of the Frozen Storm...**Hakkyou no Yami **and I can say that the newer versions will surpass the old versions. We may or may not keep the old versions on the site.

Also, I will potentially be posting **NEW STORIES** depending on what occurs. Some of them may be one shots, others may be multi-chapter, but it all depends on what happens. I will be continuing with the stories I currently have, so do not fret.

**Important!:** Read the bottom AN, concepts in this chapter will be slightly confusing at first, and I know many of you will send vast quantities of Hate Mail for them for one reason or another, though hopefully after you read our reasoning for those concepts you will understand.

Thanks go to Leaf Ranger for coming up with the title for this chapter, and the previous one.

**Show your support by checking out the following...it encourages me, and many others to keep writing awesome fanfics and make continuous updates as often as we can.**

**Authors:** Each of these authors has written stories, there are too many good ones to pick just a few. So instead, we are placing the names of the authors who have written the stories. If you would like to be added or removed from the list I am providing, send a PM or post a review.

-dracohalo117

-Hakkyou no Yami

-Mystic 6 Tailed Naruto

-TheDemonKingNaruto

-Hector Enix

-Lord of Daemons

-Agurra of the Darkness

-livezinshadowz

-Shadow Kurogane

-tibo

-Obito the III

-Leaf Ranger

-King of the Fallen

-VFSNAKE

-Saito Namikaze Reborn

-Vaanarash

**Challenges**

-Hakkyou no Yami's Various Challenges...Dark Naruto Challenges

-Mystic 6 Tailed Naruto's Various Challenges…

-dracohalo117 Various Challenges…Naruto Hates Yondaime…Naruto Quits Shinobi Life

-Agurra of the Darkness Challenges...on Agurra's profile page

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Hakkyou no Yami-Forum link located on top of dracohalo117 profile page

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* * *

><p>With Naruto<p>

Naruto's eyes were fixed upon the woman, kneeling before him, her eyes never once separating from his gaze, her words processing through his psyche as he tried to comprehend what she had just told him.

Naruto blinked several times and he finally spoke, "W-what are you talking about?" his voice echoed his confusion louder than his words ever could.

The woman simply smiled at him, scooting closer to him, "It is as I said Naruto-sama, I am your most humble, loyal, and ever faithful servant. I am to do with as you so desire, and shall serve you until the end of my life and beyond, even unto my own oblivion." she scooted closer to him, so close their faces were nearly touching as she whispered, "Command me to destroy a foe, and they shall be ashes, order me to bow, and my head shall touch the ground at your whim, ask of me anything of your heart's desire…" she leaned closer and in a hushed voice, "…no matter how small or great the task, name it, and I shall do it with utmost vigor, and to the very best of my abilities…" she leaned in close, "…Naruto-sama."

Naruto sat completely still as the woman spoke to him, and his psyche processed each word, each syllable, each part of her tone of voice.

It didn't make any sense.

Naruto quickly scooted back and looked at the woman, "Who are you?" he frowned, "And more importantly, how do you know me? I know for a fact I have never seen you before in my life." his eyes briefly scanned her form, taking in every curve, every indent in the skin, every hint of her pale flesh, before his gaze returned to meet her own, and he could not help but marvel at her perfect facial features, _'How could I forget a beauty like her?'_

The woman simply smiled softly at him, and moved her hand to gently touch his cheek, "Naruto-sama, I have known you for almost your entire life." her smile softly grew, "After all, we shared a body since you were but a newborn, milord."

…

…

…

Naruto stared at the woman before him, the gears turning inside his head as her words finally clicked. He slowly moved his legs, pushing himself into a standing position, a single word leaving his lips, "Kyuubi."

The woman smiled gently, "Yes, Naruto-sama." she bowed her head, all the while looking directly into his eyes.

Naruto stared at the woman…the Kyuubi…while a hundred different thoughts whirled about his conscious. In situations like this, he would normally be filled with an overwhelming sense of terror, he would be panicking. But right now, all he felt was curiosity to the situation before him, all the while he looked her over, and processed the situation in a clear manner.

Her posture did not display aggression, far from it, her posture displayed a more submissive persona, specifically, her posture showed submission to _him_.

At this realization, Naruto was filled with an even greater confusion, not that she was submissive to him, but rather that he had been able to see the subtle hints clearly enough that he was able to come to that conclusion. Furthermore, he had come to that conclusion in a calm and collected manner, he had not presumed anything, rather he had observed and made note of the subtleties in the Kyuubi's posture, and drawn a conclusion which for some reason, he _knew_ was correct.

What confused him further, is how he had been able to think so clearly when before such hints would not have even registered in his mind no matter how hard he tried to focus.

Shaking off his questions for the moment, deciding to file them away for later, he went back to observing the Kyuubi.

As he observed her, he took note that her stance, while submissive to him, also contained something else. However, he was not able to discern what that something was.

After a few moments deliberation, he chose to file that away for later inquiry.

As Naruto was deliberating with himself, he noticed something off about his body, something that until a few moments ago, he took no note of, either not noticing, or simply not caring.

He…_felt_ different.

Naruto was familiar with the way his body worked, due to being an orphan he had nothing else to truly notice besides himself, so he had become familiar with the way his muscles felt as he moved even a single digit, how his chakra flowed through his body, even the feel of his chakra when he performed jutsu or was idle. Not to mention that, despite his idle state, despite the fact he was focusing keenly on a single task, his senses were working in overdrive, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells around him even while he was concerned with other endeavors.

He felt his muscles motion, which seemed so different from the way they were before. He focused on his idle body, trying to feel for his chakra…he felt something.

But it was _not_ chakra.

He looked at Kyuubi, and spoke with finality, "What happened to me?" he looked between her and himself, "Why do I feel so different?" he looked at her, "How did you get out of the-" Naruto stopped his question as his mind flashed back, memories playing in his mind.

Kakashi…

Naruto frowned, _'So that is how the seal broke.'_ he remembered how Kakashi thrust that jutsu into his abdomen, damaging the seal on his stomach.

A soft giggle drew Naruto's attention, and he turned his gaze to see Kyuubi laughing a bit, before she looked at him, "I see you understand how I escaped Naruto-sama." she smiled and slowly stood up, "As to answer what happened to you, why you feel so different…" she stood up tall, stretching as she continued, "I can only assume it is because your bloodlines have awoken."

Naruto's eyes widened as he heard Kyuubi's statement, "Bloodlines, plural? More than one?!" his shock and confusion went hand in hand as he looked at himself.

Kyuubi finished stretching and walked up to Naruto, "Naruto-sama."

Naruto shot his head up to look at Kyuubi, who was looking at him, a soft look on her face.

Kyuubi spoke again, "Channel your essence to your eyes milord."

Naruto looked at her with confusion, "Essence, what are you talking about?"

Kyuubi brought a hand to her chin as she looked him over, "I can tell that you no longer have chakra, instead your chakra coils have been replaced by something else, something more. The only word that truly qualifies what you have is your essence, however, regardless of its new state, it should still fulfill the intended purpose." she looked up at him, and spoke, "Channel your essence to your eyes, follow the same principle the way you channeled your chakra when you learned the tree walking exercise, but please be careful milord. If you send too much, I am not sure what type of damage will be caused."

Naruto looked at her, and nodded his head, and closed his eyes.

Kyuubi spoke again, "Keep your eyes open milord…you will be able to tell you have activated your bloodline that way."

Naruto briefly looked up at her, but relented, and he began to channel his…essence…to his eyes. He only let a small amount flow to his eyes at first, but as he began to grow more comfortable with his control of his power, he allowed a bit more to flow to his eyes.

As he channeled his essence to his eyes, he stared in shock at Kyuubi as his vision changed. Before he saw things normally, but now he was seeing things in a manner he had never thought possible.

In Kyuubi's place, he saw glowing streams ripping through her body, he saw the crimson glow inside her body, so similar, yet infinitely different from the chakra networks he had become familiar with looking through books in the academy. He looked around and saw the plants around him having similar networks, but the glow inside them was a greenish tone.

Naruto kept looking around, while Kyuubi walked up to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I see your bloodline has been activated Naruto-sama."

Naruto snapped to look at her, and he spoke, confusion staining his voice, "What bloodline is this?"

Kyuubi simply smiled and she slowly began to move her arm.

Naruto watched as she raised her arm up, her palm facing upwards.

Kyuubi simply moved her fingers, allowing their movements flow to seem like the waves on the water, and red particles began to float off of her skin.

Naruto stared in fascination, his bloodline making each red particle seem like a bright star floating in the ether.

The particles of red light floated through the air, before they began to gather and form into a solid mass.

Kyuubi moved her hands swiftly, and cut into the solid mass with her fingertips, creating arcane rune-like shapes in the red mass.

Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at the red mass as it suddenly twisted, flattened, and its very form shifted into…a mirror.

Kyuubi gingerly touched the edge of the mirror with her fingertip, "Look Naruto-sama, see your bloodline."

Naruto blinked a few times, and he leaned in close to the mirror, which for some reason, looked like a regular mirror to him, even with his eyes as they were, he could clearly see his reflection.

What he saw placed him in a stupor of shock and awe.

Instead of staring into the face of a twelve year old child, baby fat still gushing at his cheeks, an undeveloped and unfinished complexion, he was instead staring in the face of an older version of himself, baby fat burned off, his features sharper, but retaining its original structure. His once short but spike blond locks were replaced with longer spikes of hair with two long bangs framing his face, and a small _mane_ of sorts trailing off the back of his head, just passing the base of his neck. His thin whisker marks had grown slightly thicker, sharper, more pronounced.

But all that paled in comparison to his eyes.

In place of his cerulean blue iris, he found himself staring into pure white eyes, with an azure blue color outlining the edges of the eye. He stared deeply into the eyes, and saw some sort of ethereal, inhuman, but not unholy glow to them. In the center of the eyes there was a faint shimmer of the glow that covered the eye, seemingly the pupil of the eyes.

Naruto muttered softly, knowing the eyes he was staring at, no matter how different they were, "Byakugan?" he whispered to himself, "I have a Dojutsu? I have the Byakugan?" he asked himself, but his question did not go unheard by Kyuubi.

Kyuubi spoke up, "Yes, you do have the Byakugan as one of your Dojutsu."

Naruto's eyes widened further than what he thought possible as he snapped his gaze up to Kyuubi, "What? I have more than one Dojutsu? That is possible?" he was shocked beyond comprehension.

Kyuubi nodded her head and she lightly grabbed the mirror, placing it in Naruto's hands. She then reached up to Naruto's forehead, "Naruto-sama, I want you to channel your essence to your eyes again, this time, explain what your essence feels like as you channel it, can you do that for me milord?"

Naruto briefly glanced at Kyuubi, before he nodded his head, and began to charge his essence to his eyes again.

Kyuubi closed her eyes, pressing her hand against his forehead ever so slightly, "What does your essence feel like Naruto-sama?"

Naruto blinked as he stared forward, his reflection staring back at him, and he spoke, "It feels…focused, as if it is a single neat stream, like a string through the eye of a needle."

Kyuubi nodded her head, "Good, is there anything else you feel?" she opened her eyes and lowered her head, "Focus, is there anything else you feel about your essence milord?"

Naruto looked up at her, and focused on the flow of his essence, trying to feel for anything else.

At the very edge of the focused string of his essence, he felt something.

Kyuubi seemed to see his realization, "Naruto-sama, what is it?"

Naruto looked at Kyuubi, "I feel something different from the focused…essence." he looked at the mirror, trying to think of a way to describe what he had felt, "It felt…erratic, but at the same time it felt like it was under control." Naruto looked up at Kyuubi again.

He saw a look of joy spread across Kyuubi's face, "Wonderful Naruto-sama…" she continued to press her hand against Naruto's forehead, this time adjusting her fingers closer to his temple, "Naruto-sama, I need you to focus on that erratic source of essence. In place of the focused essence, allow that erratic source to flow to your eyes, but maintain control over it."

Naruto nodded his head in affirmation and did as he was asked, and he focused on the erratic source of essence, and allowed that to flow into his eyes. It was difficult at first, due to the erratic nature of the essence, but for some reason, he just naturally seemed to command it, with an ease he did not think possible.

Naruto looked into the mirror as his eyes ceased to retain the form of the Byakugan, briefly returning to his old cerulean orbs, which he noted were a more azure color than before.

Only for his eyes to be replaced by that of the Sharingan, but like the Byakugan, the Sharingan was also different. The red of the iris was not the simple shade of red, no, it was a mixture of the colors he would often see in a blistering fire, swirling about the iris, as if it were aflame, however, the eye contained the same ethereal glow he found in the Byakugan. The tomoe and the ring connecting them was not the standard black color either, it looked more like onyx stone, wreathed in a deep darkness that seemed never ending, and the tomoe and ring itself looked smoother and more defined than those of the standard Sharingan.

Naruto blinked several times, not fully believing what he was seeing, "Byakugan _and_ Sharingan?"

Kyuubi nodded, "Yes, but that is not all Naruto-sama." she moved her hand and gently applied it to cover half his forehead, and one of his temples, "Now, Naruto-sama, can you feel anything else, something besides the focused stream of the Byakugan, or the erratic and controlled essence of the Sharingan?"

Naruto focused his senses and felt around his essence again, this time, finding what Kyuubi was referring to far quicker, "Yes, I do. It feels…powerful…all encompassing." Naruto struggled with his words, "I don't know how else to describe it."

Kyuubi smiled softly and leaned in close, "That is alright Naruto-sama, you have found it, that is all that matters." she closed her eyes and stood up, "Naruto-sama, just like with the last two, focus on that essence, however, maintain full control of it, do not let it flow as freely as the others did, control it, in all of its entirety."

Naruto did as he was told, and focused on the all-encompassing essence, and forced it to flow to his eyes. Taking Kyuubi's words to heart, he never once allowed the power to flow freely, maintaining control over it, a difficult task at first, but he slowly got used to commanding it.

In the mirror, Naruto saw his eyes briefly return to their original state, before becoming something he had never seen before.

His sclera and iris merged, and were filled with a shade of vibrant amethyst, glimmering with an ethereal glow. Out of the sea of amethyst, rising out of it, sending ripples across the eye was a single solid onyx black pupil, the ripples seemed to solidify, forming similarly shaded rings around the pupil, a ripple pattern forming.

Naruto stared at the mirror in confusion, "What Dojutsu is this?"

Kyuubi looked at him, "That would be the Rinnegan." she said flatly, her eyes focusing on Naruto's, "I am not surprised you are unaware of it, only a handful of ningen in the past have ever received it, none of whom are currently alive that I am aware of." she spoke with a serious tone.

Naruto nodded his head and looked back at himself, "So…I have the Byakugan, the Sharingan, and this…Rinnegan?" he asked with a curious tone to his voice, "I have three Dojutsu?"

Kyuubi looked at him and spoke flatly, "No."

Naruto looked at her, confusion etched on his features, "What do you mean?"

Kyuubi looked into Naruto's eyes and leaned in close, "Naruto-sama…you don't have three Dojutsu."

Naruto stared right back, and listened as Kyuubi's lips moved, and a single statement left them.

"You have four Dojutsu."

...

…

…

Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at her, and his eyes reverted back to their normal state, "W-what?!" he asked, shock and confusion. He was already shocked that he had the Byakugan, the Sharingan, and the Rinnegan, but to find out he had another Dojutsu as well?

Kyuubi nodded her head, and she placed her other hand on his forehead and spoke, "Can you feel any essence aside from those that you have already felt milord?"

Naruto broke himself from his stupor, and searched through his essence, feeling the focused source that activated the Byakugan, the controlled erratic essence which awoke the Sharingan, the all-encompassing presence that lit up the Rinnegan.

And beneath it all…he felt it.

Naruto looked at Kyuubi, "Yes, I can feel another, hidden beneath the others."

Kyuubi's smile widened, "What does it feel like Naruto-sama?"

Naruto looked at the mirror as he tried to describe it, "It feels, wild, primal, a mass of uncontrolled power."

Though Naruto did not notice at first, Kyuubi's smile widened to a toothy grin, "Yes, that is it Naruto-sama." she closed her ideas and gently adjusted her pressing against his forehead, "The primal essence, let it flow towards your eyes, do not control it like the essence of the Rinnegan, simply guide it Naruto-sama."

Naruto looked at Kyuubi, "Uhm, are you sure? Shouldn't I maintain control over it if it feels wild and uncontrolled?"

Kyuubi turned her head to Naruto and softly smiled, "Naruto-sama…" she moved one hand from his forehead, and gingerly placed it on his cheek, "I need you to trust me on this…" she looked deeply into his eyes, "…please milord?"

Naruto did not know what it was that compelled him, but for some reason, he just knew he could trust Kyuubi in this matter, so with a small nod, he did as he was asked…allowing the primal essence to flow to his eyes unhindered.

Kyuubi smiled and returned her hand to his forehead, and closed her eyes.

Naruto continued to peer into the mirror, and focused his gaze as his eyes changed before him.

His iris was consumed by a magnificent azure blue, swallowing his pupil in the mass of color, swirling about his eyes in a cascading ring of such vibrancy, shimmering with a glow so deep and piercing that if his eyes were in their normal state, he knew he would be blinded by it. Within the sea of azure, there seemed to be ripples of crimson that intertwined with the streams of azure in his eye. His sclera's only changed however was that instead of the normal shimmer of the sclera, it was overcome by an overwhelming glow of the purest light he had ever beheld.

Naruto stared intently into the mirror, the Dojutsu he had activated staring back at him. With a steady hand he moved his fingertips to trace the edges of his eyes.

Kyuubi opened her own eyes, and looked at Naruto, gasping slightly as she looked into Naruto's eyes, "Naruto-sama…" she stared deeply into his eyes as he looked up at her.

Naruto looked up at Kyuubi, "What? What is it?"

Kyuubi continued to stare into his eyes, "I knew that your Dojutsu would be magnificent, but I never imagined something so elegant, so extravagant…" she stepped closer to him, and gently placed her fingers against his cheek.

Naruto just glanced back at the mirror and stared at himself, and he spoke slowly, "So, what Dojutsu is this?"

Kyuubi broke out of her stupor, coughing ever so slightly as she looked upon Naruto once more, "That Dojutsu is the Seishougan." she looked closely at him, gently stroking his face as she turned his head to view each eye, "Though I will admit, I was not truly expecting something so radiant."

Naruto looked back into the mirror he held, and had to admit, his eyes were rather unique.

'_So, I have the Byakugan, the Sharingan, the Rinnegan, and the Seishougan. I have heard of the Byakugan and Sharingan, they are Konoha Kekkei Genkai after all. But how do _I_ have them, the Sharingan belongs to the Uchiha clan, and they were all wiped out, with Sasuke as the only survivor.'_ he then looked at his own hands, then looked at himself in the mirror, _'Is it possible one of my parents was an Uchiha?'_ the thought crossed his mind, but he then rejected the idea, _'No, even if I was a bastard child of the clan, the Uchiha would have ensured I was under their thumb.'_ Naruto knew how coveted a Kekkei Genkai was, so even if he was the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, the Uchiha would have ensured he was within the clan to keep him from spreading their bloodline beyond their clan.

Naruto continued to think, _'Then there is the Byakugan, of the Hyuuga clan, I know for a fact my parents could not have been Hyuuga, otherwise I would have never have lived in an orphanage, even if it was only for a few years, they are so crazed about keeping the Kekkei Genkai in the family, that they place those seals on the Branch family, why would they ever tolerate a Hyuuga orphan, even a bastard one.'_

Naruto then looked back into the mirror, _'On top of all that, I don't look anything like the Uchiha, or the Hyuuga, hell I don't even look like them with the Sharingan and Byakugan activ-'_

Naruto stopped his thought process as he remembered a detail when he activated the Byakugan, and he shot his eyes up to look at Kyuubi, and they returned to their normal state, "Wait, why did my Byakugan look so different from the Hyuuga Byakugan? They don't have the color tint on the edge of the eyes, and I didn't have veins bulging at the edge of my eyes, why were mine so different? I know it is not a different Dojutsu, so what caused the changes to my eyes?"

Kyuubi looked at him and smiled as she stepped back and spoke, "I saw that your Byakugan did not have the bulging veins, which is good, it is a clear sign you no longer harbor even a hint of ningen blood within you…"

Naruto's eyes widened as he heard that, _'Not even a hint of ningen blood? What is she talking about?'_

"…and the differences in your eyes show that not only is your body strong enough to endure their power, but that your demigod blood has only empowered them further."

…

…

…

Naruto's eyes widened further, and he opened his mouth, "What?!" he said with shock and confusion, "What do you mean demigod blood?!" he said walking up to her, dropping the mirror, causing it to shatter upon the ground.

Kyuubi jumped back suddenly as Naruto walked up to her and shouted, and she stammered out "N-Naruto-sama I-"

Naruto did not give her a chance to speak, "What do you mean demigod blood?" he looked at himself in shock and confusion before staring at her, "I-I am a ningen, I-"

Kyuubi spoke up, albeit nervously, "F-forgive my interruption Naruto-sama, but you _were_ a ningen." at Naruto's stare she closed her lips and nervously fidgeted, stepping back several times.

Naruto stared at her, more questions racing through his conscious mind than he could conceive, but each question leading to the same question over and over again.

Naruto walked up to Kyuubi, and spoke, "How?"

Kyuubi looked up at Naruto, "I'm sorry?" she asked in confusion.

Naruto stepped forward again, causing Kyuubi to shuffle back a few steps, "If what you say is true, that I am a demigod…how did it happen?"

Kyuubi blinked twice, "Oh, uhm…" she brought a hand to her chin and stroked it in thought, as if trying to figure out what to say.

Naruto looked at her, waiting for her response, while he tried to comprehend his situation.

Under normal circumstances, he would have said she was lying, after all, how could be possibly be a demigod? How could he no longer be ningen?

But somehow, he just _knew_ she wasn't lying.

Kyuubi finally spoke up, "Well, I am not entirely sure what happened to cause this ascension, at least not the specifics of it. But the best way I can say what happened to you is, that when the seal that held me in was shattered when that…_ningen_…" she said with obvious venom in her voice, "…used his jutsu upon you, the sudden rush of my Youki, in addition to the remnants of the Shinigami's divine energies within the seal itself overwhelmed your body, annihilating every cell in your body, restructuring you down to your smallest part, and replacing it with a compound created by the union of my Youki, and the Shinigami's energies." she held her hand out, as if referencing his state, "The result being your ascension, into a demigod."

Naruto could only stare at her, before bringing a hand to his head, "Wow, this is unbelievable." he started to pace back and forth as he processed what he had been told.

Kyuubi watched, and spoke softly, "Uhm, anyways, Naruto-sama…" she swallowed as she spoke up, "…no doubt your new Demigod blood has not only enhanced your eyes, but removed them of their inherent weaknesses. The Byakugan for example, the veins that pulsed around the edges of the eyes was the body trying to push the eyes to their absolute limit. Ningen were never meant to have such eyes, so to compensate, the body of Ningen pushes so much chakra, blood, and adrenaline through the body and especially into the eyes that the side effect is the veins pulsing along the edges of the eyes of those who wield the Byakugan, hence why whenever the Byakugan is used for long periods, there is severe eye strain, if not blindness, sometimes permanent, other times temporary…"

Naruto stopped and looked at her, his mind going over what she was telling him.

"…in addition, your ascension also removed the blind spot that every last wielder of the Byakugan has." she walked up to Naruto and reached behind his neck, "To my memory, the blind spot is right about…here." she tapped a spot on the back of his neck, "Right above the first thoracic vertebra."

Naruto reached back where Kyuubi touched, and gingerly rubbed the area.

Kyuubi spoke up, "But you need not worry about such weaknesses Naruto-sama, your demigod blood has not only purged those weaknesses from your system, but enhanced the strengths of the Byakugan to such a level, the so called _prodigies_ would seem as if novices in comparison." she smiled and softly bowed, "After all, the eyes as they were, were not befitting of one of your noble and regal stature, Naruto-sama."

Naruto looked around as he continued to think.

Kyuubi continued, "Of course, not only your eyes have been enhanced milord, your strength and essence has become far greater than any ningen could hope to obtain, no doubt at your current strength, the ningen who dared try and kill you, would be no more than a common nuisance to your majesty, milord."

Naruto snapped his eyes to her, "Truly?"

Kyuubi nodded and bowed, her eyes gazing into his as she did so, "Indeed."

Naruto was in awe at the revelations presented to him.

Kyuubi stood up and spoke, her tone stern and serious, "However, that will change once you have been properly trained in your new abilities, and once your training has been completed…"

Naruto looked up at her…

And felt his entire world shift as she continued to speak.

"…not even at my full power, could I even hope to scratch you."

Hi no Kuni-Border

On the border connecting Hi no Kuni and Nami no Kuni, two individuals limped across the border.

Kakashi Hatake and Sasuke Uchiha.

Kakashi groaned in pain, clutching the arm he had used to grab the cable, which currently was fractured and the palm of his hand sliced up heavily.

Sasuke was in a similar situation, but with his hand the bone was partially visible, and the only thing keeping him from bleeding out was a haphazard medical gauze, which was soaked with blood.

They had managed to pull themselves up thanks to the cables they had managed to grab onto, but not without their share of injuries. They had no means to heal themselves, nor any reason to remain in Nami, so they headed back towards Konoha, at least as far as Sasuke knew.

Konoha had many outposts hidden inside the other nations, some were in Tsuchi no Kuni and Rai no Kuni, and others were simply on the borders. The locations of these outposts were privy to only the ANBU black ops and the most trusted Jonin in Konoha.

Kakashi happened to have been the former captain of the ANBU black ops, and was more trusted than any Konoha Jonin, so he knew of the locations of each outpost.

Kakashi looked to Sasuke, "Hurry, we are almost there."

Sasuke glared towards Kakashi, "Are you sure we are headed in the right direction?"

Kakashi nodded his head, "Yes, there is a medical facility for Konoha shinobi just past these trees…" he said indicating the forest around them, "…once we get there, we can get fixed up and return to Konoha."

Sasuke scowled, "Why can't we just head straight to Konoha now? Surely these minor injuries will not hind-…hind-er…" Sasuke began to stumble, only to be grabbed by Kakashi.

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye, "That is why, you have lost a lot of blood, and my arm is currently broken. Better to get fixed up as soon as possible than risk being ambushed by an enemy." he let go of Sasuke and used his free arm to push aside the branches, "Just be patient, we are almost-" Kakashi suddenly froze in place.

Sasuke saw this, "Kakashi-sensei, what is-"

Sasuke was silenced when Kakashi suddenly pulled out his kunai and got into a stance, his eyes snapping left and right.

Sasuke looked around as well, activating his Sharingan, two tomoe in one eye, a single tomoe in the other.

He noticed shadows in the tree line, but they moved too fast for him to see more than that.

Kakashi switched his position, and readied himself to fight if need be, his kunai being laced with a layer of chakra.

Suddenly, the branches around them were pushed aside, and Kakashi and Sasuke watched as seven figures surrounded them.

Each one wearing a blank mask.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes as he saw them, even if they wore no symbols, his time in Black Ops had ensured he was quite familiar with one organization above almost all others.

ROOT, whose operatives were currently surrounding him.

He kept his guard up, despite his loyalties, Danzo was a shady individual who was willing to use…less than pleasant ways to further his goals, which in his mind was always meant for the greater good of Konoha.

One of the ROOT stepped forward and spoke, their voice distorted, making determining their gender impossible, "Kakashi Hatake, Jonin sensei of Team 7?"

Kakashi flinched and tightened his grip as two more ROOT stepped towards them.

The ROOT shinobi were quiet for several moments, until the one that spoke piped up again, "I will ask again…" the reached towards their sides, where Kakashi saw the hilt of assumedly a bladed tool, "Kakashi Hatake, Jonin sensei of Team 7?"

Kakashi knew their position was dire, and chose to answer, "Yes."

Almost immediately, the ROOT removed their hand away from the hilt of their weapon, "We have been deployed to escort you and your squad safely back to Konoha." they looked at Sasuke, "All questions can wait until later, the Uchiha is injured and must be escorted to Konoha immediately."

As the two ROOT flanking the first one stepped forward, Kakashi paled as he realized what getting to Konoha faster meant.

One of the ROOT shinobi lifted Sasuke up and headed towards Konoha, while the other assisted Kakashi and they sped off towards Konoha as well.

The five remaining ROOT looked towards each other, "Continue with your mission, I will tail them, it is doubtful any enemy Shinobi could have impersonated Kakashi so well, but we must be certain." they pointed in the direction of the outpost Kakashi was headed towards, "Guard the entrance, reinforcements will arrive soon…the subject must not be allowed to escape."

The four ROOT shinobi spoke in unison, their voices masked as well, "Hai." and they vanished in a swirl of leaves.

The remaining ROOT shinobi shot after Kakashi, Sasuke, and the other two ROOT Shinobi.

Meanwhile

Deep in the underground base of ROOT, an immense room, which had at one time been used to pit ROOT Shinobi against one another to better their skills, remove their faults in technique, and practice what they already knew. The lights designed to supply different environments in order to acclimate each and every Shinobi to different combats, which was assisted by the vents used to cool, warm, moisten, or dry the atmosphere in which they fought in.

In addition, there was a large pool of water below a platform, which would be sealed up, or left open to change the battlefield.

It was in this _arena_ that a large group of over twenty or so ROOT and guards had blockaded the various hallways that lead through this room.

They had known this room better than any outsider could, they had trained in here, fought in here, perfected their skills in here. By all accounts, anyone who entered should have been at their mercy.

Instead, all it had given them a familiar place to die…when they were mercilessly slaughtered.

Their techniques had been blocked, or turned against them by the same woman they were trying to subdue.

Their bodies ripped apart and tossed into the waters below, while others had been thrown into it and drowned as the water itself pulled them under.

Others were pinned to the walls and ceiling by long roots of black wood, their blood and crushed organs flowing down the surface of the roots.

Their arena had become their tomb.

But none of this concerned Kushina, no, what concerned her is her reflection in the steel walls of the arena…

She stared at the onyx black bangs which framed her face, the white highlights at the tip of her hair, how her crimson and rose red hair so naturally shifted from one color to the other.

She reached up and gently caressed her onyx locks, while her other hand clasped the white highlights.

They felt so natural, so real…were they real?

Such a question, so simple, yet so complex, it drove her to bring her hands closer to her face, still holding the locks of hair within them, bringing them across her line of sight.

…

…

…

They were real…

At such a realization, Kushina released her hair from her grip, and looked back at her reflection, and drank in her form.

She knew that she was a beautiful woman, but what she saw before her was not what she remembered she looked like. Her figure was never so perfect, her hips were never so wide, yet so smooth. Her thighs were certainly thicker than she had remembered, and her bust was also much larger than she had remembered.

She was more beautiful than she ever remembered being.

It was as if someone had taken all of her features, and had enhanced them to levels of beauty beyond any ningen comparison.

On top of that, she looked younger, much younger…it looked as if a whole decade had been removed from her complexion, if she didn't know better, she would have thought time had turned back the clock for her. She certainly looked younger than she was when she gave birth to her sochi.

All these changes brought a question to Kushina's mind…if her sochi knew what she looked like when she gave birth to him, if Konoha had allowed him to know what she looked like to begin with, with her present changes…

Would he believe she was really his mother?

Kushina bit her lower lip and took in a deep breath, before she went through one of the doors connecting to the room.

She pressed onward despite the questions of doubt at the forefront of her mind…

She would find her son, and she would be with him as she should have been with him.

And she would raze Konoha to the ground if she had to do it.

With that conviction, her eyes glowed with a reddish tint as she slashed through another ROOT shinobi as her nails seemed to carve through them like a dagger.

Konoha

The ROOT shinobi made it to Konoha rather easily, and had immediately gone to the hospital, where they were quickly brought to the Shinobi section of the hospital, where medical staff immediately set out to fixing them up.

It was not long before news of their return had spread through Konoha, as well as the news that two members of the team were not with them.

One Hiruzen Sarutobi had heard this news from his secretary, and had made a beeline towards the hospital.

The lack of Sakura and Naruto set about mixed emotions in the Sandaime. The two of them not being in Konoha implied that both of them were dead, and while he was pleased with Naruto's absence, he would be lying if he did not admit he was hoping to avoid more casualties than necessary, especially with how desperate Konoha was thanks to the major loss of their Shinobi in the Kyuubi attack, and the past skirmishes with Kumogakure.

However, the loss of a single Genin was well worth the cost of ending Naruto Uzumaki, after all, all great goals required necessary sacrifices.

He entered the hospital, his presence met with civilians and Shinobi bowing and saying, _'Hokage-sama'_ as he passed by them.

He walked up to the front desk, where a nurse was manning the desk, "I need to see Kakashi Hatake immediately, I have been informed he is in the hospital, will there be any trouble with that?" he asked knowing that the possibility of Kakashi being in intensive care was plausible, and wanted to make sure there were no issues.

The nurse glanced over the forms as soon as Hiruzen finished speaking, "Actually, he is resting in the recovery center. He is available for visits currently, so you are free to go and speak with him Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen smiled and nodded his head, "Thank you for your assistance and cooperation." he then turned his head and headed off to the Shinobi section of the hospital, and from there, recovery.

The recovery ward was teeming with life, Shinobi being brought in from intensive care to get them back on their feet, Shinobi exiting the ward to return to their duties, and doctors and nurses bustling about keeping the patients entertained as they recovered, since bored Shinobi tended to me a greater nuisance than bored civilians.

Hiruzen entered the recovery ward, and glanced across the room, trying to find the Shinobi who had drawn him to this wing to begin with.

It did not take long, in the corner of the room, staring out a window, was one Kakashi Hatake.

A smile adorned Hiruzen's face as he briskly moved across the room, the patients and nurses stepping aside so as to not impede their leader's progress.

At the same time, Kakashi was staring out the window, a feeling of dread washing over him like a tidal wave on the shoreline. How was he going to explain to his leader that not only did he lose one of his Genin, but he had likely failed in killing off Naruto, and that he somehow had used a time-space jutsu which rendered the mission to Nami no Kuni completely moot? Not to mention the hell he would receive for continuing a mission so high above the rank, it would be another story if the mission was successful, but the mission was a failure, in more ways than one.

He only prayed that the Sandaime did not hear of his presence in the hospital so soon, perhaps he could figure out a way to word the story so as to rectify this situation…

"Ah Kakashi, I am pleased that you are back in familiar territory."

Kakashi felt his heart stop and his eyes widen in horror, the voice that had spoken to him not more than a few feet from him.

Slowly turning his head, he looked up into the face of the man he dreaded to see.

The Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Hiruzen, seemingly oblivious to Kakashi's dread, though more likely paying it no mind spoke up, "I see you have returned with minimal injury. I do hope the injury did not impede your ability to complete your _mission_."

Kakashi seemed to choke on his own voice as he glanced around, the others in the recovery ward becoming aware of the situation, "H-Hokage-sama, I-I…"

Hiruzen chuckled, "Oh of course, too many prying eyes and ears." he looked towards the nearest nurse, "Excuse me, could you assist me in escorting Kakashi-san to _'the room'_.

The nurse swiftly bowed her head, "Of course, Sandaime-sama." she quickly went over to Kakashi, and aided him to _'the room'_.

Kakashi's body seemed to tremble as his situation only seemed to worsen.

'_The Room'_ was basically a small version of an interrogation chamber. Shinobi would often return from high class missions injured, and would need to relay information to their leaders in private, obviously this could not wait until they fully recovered, so the Shinobi section of the hospital, along with other sections were outfitted with small rooms that was basically cut off from the outside world, no sound could get in or out, nor could anybody break in by conventional means, and most unconventional means were barred from entrance as well.

Kakashi had hoped that the Sandaime would be impatient to learn of Naruto's supposed death, and would have demanded an answer right then, but it seemed the Sandaime was more patient than anticipated. He had hoped that once Hiruzen heard the news, and he inevitably attacked, the nurses and Shinobi would be able to pry him off him enough for him to explain the situation.

Now though, he may as well have been locked in interrogation with the entire torture division.

Kakashi was silently lead into the room, where he was seated upon one of the chairs inside, as Hiruzen took a seat directly opposite of him.

The nurse gently propped Kakashi up, and after a swift bow, left them as she closed the door behind her, which latched shut as soon as it had closed.

A moment of tense silence occurred, until Hiruzen smiled and spoke, "Now Kakashi, based on what I have already heard in Konoha, I can expect good news from this mission."

Kakashi inwardly panicked, his heart and pulse racing as he realized how bad his situation was.

Hiruzen spoke, "However, I would like to hear the news from you, Kakashi…so tell me, was the mission a success?"

…

…

…

Kakashi began to sweat profusely, and he began to shake as he stared into the expecting eyes of his leader.

Hiruzen slowly started to frown, "Kakashi…the mission was a success…wasn't it?"

Kakashi swallowed the spit that had built up in his mouth, and slowly wheezed out, "S-Sandaime-sama…the mission was…" he choked on his words as Hiruzen suddenly stood up, his frown deepened as his eyes turned to a judging gaze.

"Kakashi!" Hiruzen snapped, "Was the mission a success, or not?" he spoke with a stern tone, and he snapped, "Answer me!"

Kakashi whimpered and he seemed to shrink into himself as the killing intent emitted by the Kage began to seep into his pores, "T-the mission was a failure Sandaime-sama…"

…

…

…

Hiruzen stared at Kakashi as his eyes narrowed, his teeth grinding together as he snarled, "What did you just say?" his tone spoke volumes of the anger he was emitting.

Kakashi spoke again, his voice laced with fear, "T-the mission…i-it was a failure

Hiruzen snarled in anger and slammed his hands on the table in front of them, and snapped, "Tell me everything that occurred, and explain to me how on Kami's earth you could have failed to kill one _untrained_ Genin Jinchuriki!"

Kakashi needed no further persuasion, and spoke briskly, and did as he was commanded.

He told him everything.

Every…last…detail.

By the end of it, Hiruzen was staring at Kakashi with a mixture of anger, disbelief, and shame, "You lead a Genin squad to finish a mission that had gone from C-rank to A-rank?!"

Kakashi stammered, "S-Sandaime-sama I-"

"You then tried to kill Naruto in front of the entire village?! Did I not tell you what you were to do to ensure this incident was believable? At what point does killing him in front of an entire civilian populace make 'Naruto turned on his team…' seem remotely believable to you?!"

"-please I-HURGH" Kakashi was grasped around the throat as the Sandaime pulled him over the table.

"On top of all that, not only did you fail to kill him, but he somehow used a time-space ninjutsu to escape, and you lost one of your Genin because of all this?!"

Kakashi gasped, "S-Sandaime-sama, I-I beg of you…p-please…"

Hiruzen snarled and shoved Kakashi back, slamming him into the chair, which toppled back, smashing under the combined force of Kakashi's weight, and the force from Hiruzen pushing him.

At the same time, Hiruzen brought a hand to his chin as he bit his lip, this was not good by any stretch. If Naruto was indeed alive, then there was a high possibility he would seek retribution for Kakashi trying to kill him, and who knows, he may even go so far as to blame the whole village for this.

Then there was the matter of Sakura, even if Sasuke was beloved for being the 'last Uchiha' the council would not tolerate him killing his teammate, no matter the circumstances.

Hiruzen brought a hand to his head, and firmly wished that a migraine was all he would suffer from this incident.

'_Damn it all…'_

Hi no Kuni: Border Outpost

In the forests of Hi no Kuni, along the border connecting Hi no Kuni and Nami no Kuni, a small hill stood out in the middle of a field, out of place in such an open area, yet looking so a part of the landscape itself those who came across it paid it no mind. A clever deception, but to the trained eye, it was obvious that this so called 'hill' was not natural.

In truth, the hill was artificial, created by Konoha as a means to hide a subterranean base, which was used in wartime, and as rendezvous points within missions. Each hidden base was outfitted with everything needed for shinobi of Konoha; armory, medical center, food storage, even translation teams for encrypted messages.

Such bases were scattered all over the elemental nations, each one designed to blend with the landscape, and each one outfitted with a small team of Shinobi, ranging from Genin to Jonin in rank.

However, the base in this field, unbeknownst to Kakashi, had been decommissioned two years prior by the Sandaime.

Not a month after its decommissioning was it assimilated by ROOT's underground network, and connected to the massive network of underground tunnels, subterranean military outposts, and hidden laboratories.

Which was the reason why the four ROOT shinobi had been sent to this location after an alert had been sounded in the lab where the subject had been held, and after further alerts showed that the subject's most probable path, was to this base.

One of the ROOT Shinobi turned around, and spoke, their voice still distorted to hide their identity, "Seal the entrance shut, reinforce the walls of the base, erect a barrier around and above the base. The subject must be contained until reinforcements arrive."

Two ROOT Shinobi stepped forward, one heading towards the hill itself, the other standing several meters away from it and cycling through hand seals.

The other two ROOT shinobi began to cycle through hand seals themselves.

The ROOT shinobi who had walked up to the hill reached and grasped the grass on the hill, and suddenly ripped it away, revealing that the grass, while realistic, was artificial.

Underneath the fake grass was a steel door, held shut little differently than the locking mechanism on a bank vault, and surrounding the door was steel plating, welded together by Katon jutsu no less.

The ROOT Shinobi began to cycle through hand seals, "Katon: Hi So-"

"SQUELCH!"

The ROOT shinobi was suddenly pierced through, and sent flying across the field by a long black root, which ripped through their armor, flesh, and bone as if it were a piece of wet paper being carved through by a kunai.

Their body was smashed into the ground as the root continued to carve through the earth, using their body as if it were a battering ram.

The other ROOT shinobi dived out of the path of the incoming assault, barely avoiding it as it shot past them with such force, they felt a strong wind crash into them.

The root itself smashed through several trees, scattering the body of the ROOT shinobi in various directions.

The three remaining ROOT shinobi stared in shock at the massive black root.

At the same time, three more black roots shot through the remains of the door, causing it to fly through the air, hurtling towards one of the ROOT shinobi.

The ROOT operatives did not see it in time, even as they heard the sound of something cutting through the air.

Not until the door slammed into the back of one of the ROOT shinobi, bisecting them, and sending their body parts flying across the field.

The two remaining ROOT narrowly avoid the body parts slamming into them.

The two of them swiftly removed their weaponry, and channeled their chakra through it as they looked towards the source of the black roots, which were slowly widening the doorway they had so easily ripped open.

They stared in shock as a large wave of water passed through the doorway, spilling onto the field like a torrential downpour, creating a massive pool upon the field.

Suddenly, they heard the padding of footsteps coming from the doorway, and they saw a shadow inside of the now widened entrance, and they tightened their fighting stance as the figure revealed themselves.

Exiting the widened entrance of the base, was none other than Kushina Uzumaki…the subject the two remaining ROOT operatives were ordered to prevent escaping.

They quickly dropped their weapons and ran through hand seals, "Doton: Dosekiru."

Suddenly, the earth split apart, and shot towards Kushina in the form of two dragon-like shapes. "

Kushina made no motion to move as the dragons of earth closed in on her.

Only for them to explode into a spray of sand and mud as the pool of water shot up, smashing into the earth dragons like a tidal wave, obliterating them.

The two ROOT shinobi did not cease, and grabbed their weapons, and shot off towards Kushina, the chakra on their blades flaring wildly as they swung at her.

Kushina simply bent backwards, dodging their strikes, and sent a kick directly into the chin of one of the shinobi.

The force behind the kick was so great, it tore the muscles and tendons keeping the head connecting to the neck, and subsequently sent the head flying through the air.

The body twitched and quivered for a few seconds as it fell over, blood pouring from the neck, staining the water with blood.

The remaining ROOT operative slashed at Kushina, who swiftly dodged out of the way and sent a thunderous kick at the ROOT operative, who barely dodged it as they jumped over it, and tried to attack Kushina again.

Kushina simply dodged it once more and then swiftly backhanded the ROOT operative.

This time, they were not fast enough to avoid the strike, and were sent hurtling across the field, slamming into the tree behind them with enough force to shatter the bones in their body.

The ROOT operative cringed in pain as they tried to push themselves to their feet, only to fall back as they felt their body being torn apart by their shattered bones.

Kushina saw that they were still moving, and began to walk towards them, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she stalked towards the broken body of the ROOT shinobi.

The ROOT operative cursed as they tried to reach for their hidden weapon.

Before they could even grasp the handle, Kushina saw what they were about to do and moved with speed that made her seem as if a blur.

And before the ROOT operative could even blink, their head was ripped from their shoulders.

Their body quivered and trembled as their blood bubbled from their neck, oozing down the front of their body like a river, before their body toppled over, and their lifeblood spilled off to the side.

Meanwhile, Kushina stared down at their body impassively as her hand tightly gripped the top of the ROOT operatives head, before she callously tossed it aside.

As the severed head tumbled across the ground, Kushina looked at her surroundings…

Finding herself inexplicably lost.

She knew that she was still in Hi no Kuni, the smell of the forest was indistinguishable from any other forest, same went with the variety of trees, which only grew within Hi no Kuni's borders, but the geography was so unfamiliar to her.

This fact filled her with dread, if the geography had changed enough for her not to recognize where she was, then a great length of time had to have passed.

The question however, was how much time had passed.

Kushina looked left and right, trying to find anything of remote familiarity, something to point her towards Konoha where her Sochi likely was being held.

Just the thought of her Sochi, without his mother, trapped in Konoha like an animal, it brought feelings of great anger within her, despair followed her rage as she realized how much of her son's life she likely has missed.

How old was he now? Was he too old to need a mother now? Would she have any purpose being in his life?

Would he let her try to be a part of his life? Or would he cast her aside, seeing no need to let a person into his life who was not there to begin with?

Such thoughts caused her to hyperventilate as she started to pace back and forth, her eyes looking all across the landscape as she entered the forests surrounding her.

None of the trees were familiar to her.

None of the bushes or landmarks distinguished any type of direction.

Nothing was familiar.

Nothing…

Absolutely nothing…

Kushina's eyes were widened in desperation and fear, and she felt herself be torn apart, "AHHHHH!" as she screamed to the heavens as she fell to her knees, and began to pound her fists into the dirt, her eyes wide as she kept glancing around even as she smashed her fists into the dirt.

Kushina started to pant heavily as she stopped punching the ground, and she kept looking around.

How was she going to get to Konoha if she did not even know where she was?

How was she going to find her son, if she could not even find a way to him?

As these questions plagued her mind, her chakra began to pulse outward, traveling through the forests around her…pulsing further and further with each echo of her chakra pulsation.

Kushina lowered her head and closed her eyes, feelings of wretched tribulation wash over her.

And then she felt it.

Kushina's eyes snapped open, and she turned her head swiftly as her face conveyed shock and hope, as she felt an essence she would never forget.

The youki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, the very Bijuu which had been sealed inside of her Sochi after he had been ripped from her arms after she had given birth to him…before she had been captured in her weakened state.

Kushina stood up without a single motion of wasted movement, and she ran in the direction she felt the Kyuubi's youki.

It was faint, but she could tell it was a recent release of the Kyuubi's youki, her experience with other villages Jinchuriki proving useful in this situation.

She made a beeline in the direction she hoped her Sochi would be.

Meanwhile, back in the field where she had engaged, and extinguished the lives of the four ROOT operatives, the black roots which had given her freedom slithered into the ground.

And all was silent.

With Naruto

Naruto stared at Kyuubi, his eyes conveying shock and disbelief, what Kyuubi had just told him, it just didn't seem possible.

In Konoha, despite how often his progress was hindered, he was _very_ familiar with the legends of Kyuubi, and the evidence that supported those facts. He had heard that a single swipe of the Kyuubi's claws could shatter mountains, could bring forth Tsunami's, he had even heard that the massive gorge just beyond the village walls was caused by the Kyuubi itself.

Well…herself.

Despite all that, he was being told by Kyuubi, _the_ Kyuubi, that once he is trained properly, she would not be able to scratch him at full strength-

Another question popped into his mind, _'Full power?'_ he looked at her in confusion, _'Is she weakened somehow?'_

Kyuubi saw his confused gaze and spoke, "What is it, Naruto-sama?"

Naruto blinked as he realized Kyuubi had caught his stare, and he sighed, _'No point in hiding the question honestly.'_ he then looked up at her and spoke, "You said _'full power,_ what did you mean by that?" he frowned slightly, "Are you weakened or something?"

Kyuubi seemed to tense up at the seemingly innocent question, and she lowered her head, "Uhm…"

Kyuubi's discomfort was easy for him to see, as she fidgeted in place, her face scrunching up as her eyes darted back and forth.

Naruto frowned and walked up to her, "Kyuubi…"

She jumped in place as she realized Naruto was directly in front of her, and she almost jumped back a second time as she saw Naruto's gaze connecting with her own.

Naruto's eyes were fixed upon hers, their very position spoke volumes of what he was feeling…and what he wanted to say.

Kyuubi bit her lip softly and tried to avert her eyes in shame…

"Kyuubi, have you been weakened?"

Kyuubi shivered at the tone of his voice, leaving absolutely no room for argument.

Swallowing slightly, Kyuubi lowered her head, "Yes, Naruto-sama."

Naruto blinked a few times, before he turned away from her, and brought a hand to his chin.

Kyuubi seemed to grow slightly more depressed, assuming the worst case scenario.

Naruto meanwhile was contemplating the implications of this revelation. If Kyuubi was in fact weakened, how long had she been weakened? And did that mean that the only reason she was able to be sealed in him was because she had been weakened beforehand?

It would make sense as to how a being as powerful as Kyuubi was _defeated_ by a ningen as easily.

However, knowing he should never leave details to assumption, he turned back towards Kyuubi, whose head was still lowered and spoke, "Kyuubi…"

Kyuubi snapped her head up as Naruto spoke, a bit of surprise on her face at the lack of a spiteful tone, surely her master would be upset that she was not as useful to him?

However, she obediently answered, stammering out, "Y-yes Naruto-sama?"

Naruto blinked as Kyuubi stammered, but continued, "How long have you been in a weakened state?"

Kyuubi stared at him, not expecting the question, "Milord?" she asked in confusion.

Naruto turned completely towards her, "How long has it been since you were weakened?" he didn't stop there, "Was it before I was born? Were you able to be sealed inside of me because you were weakened?"

Kyuubi flinched slightly, and started to twiddle her feet, "Uhm, no milord, I was actually weakened…recently…" she said with uncertainty, as if avoiding the question.

Her answer however only served to confuse Naruto, "Recently? How recently are you referring to?"

Kyuubi seemed to deflate as she turned to him, "A-around the first few moments of your ascension milord…"

…

…

…

Naruto blinked twice, and spoke, conveying his confusion, "I'm sorry, what?" he stared at her in bewilderment, "What do you mean that you were weakened around the first few moments of my ascension? How is that even possible?"

Kyuubi gulped, "W-well…remember how I told you exactly how you ascended?"

Naruto nodded his head, "Yes, you said it was caused by an interaction between your Youki and the divine energies of the Shinigami inside the Shiki Fuin itself, but how would that have weakened you?"

Kyuubi looked into Naruto's eyes, "Naruto-sama…the amount of my Youki that was stripped from me to ascend you reduced me to this state…" she indicated to her current state, "…as I am now, I am currently at the weakest I have ever been."

Naruto stared at her in shock.

Kyuubi then looked at herself, specifically the changes to herself upon her release, "In addition, I can sense that it was not you alone who was changed by my release, and I currently do not know how far the changes have progressed."

Naruto blinked at her, "What do you mean?"

Kyuubi sighed and looked back up at him, "Forgive me milord, I am more than willing to answer any and all questions you may have to the best I am able to…" she bowed softly, "…but it is my humble suggestion that we continue this in another location." she stood back up and looked around, "No doubt the events with the ningen will draw in and attract unwanted attention…from ningen or otherwise…who will eventually track us to our current location."

Naruto cursed inwardly, almost completely forgetting what had happened in Nami no Kuni, and he couldn't help but agree. If they were successfully tracked as they were now, Naruto's lack of experience with his new powers would be a hindrance rather than an asset.

Kyuubi looked at him, "If it pleases you milord, I might suggest one of the temporary homes I constructed here in the elemental nations."

Naruto looked at her in mild disbelief, "Temporary homes? Why did you never settle in a more permanent one?"

Kyuubi flinched at the question.

This did not go unnoticed by Naruto, who sighed, "Never mind, it is not of importance." he stepped forward and held out an arm, "Lead the way."

Kyuubi looked at Naruto for a moment, "Milord?"

Naruto looked at her, "I don't know the way to your _Temporary Home_, so in this situation, you would lead."

Kyuubi blinked several times, "Uhm, yes, of course…" she bowed, "Forgive me milord." she looked around, and then pointed through the tree line, "I-if we head in this direction, we should reach the den by tomorrow."

Naruto turned his head to her, "Den?"

Kyuubi immediately flushed, "I-it is what we Yoko call our homes…temporary or otherwise."

Naruto nodded his head, "I suppose that makes sense." he nodded to her, "After you."

Kyuubi nodded hesitantly, and then turned in the direction she had indicated as she took the first steps towards the hidden location. Naruto soon followed her path as they headed into the tree line.

As their trek began, Kyuubi's eyes were filled with turmoil, remembering Naruto's earlier question.

'_Temporary homes? Why did you never settle in a more permanent one?'_

She nervously nibbled on her lip, knowing she would have to answer him eventually, and that there was no way she could deceive him…he would know if she lied to him.

That was assuming if she had the will to lie to her master.

As Kyuubi's thought process was taking place, Naruto's thoughts were on their own course. The topic of his thoughts…

Kyuubi.

She was blindly obedient to him, that much was certain, what he could not figure out was why she was obedient to him in the first place.

'_Could she have grown an attachment to me inside the seal?'_ was the first question he asked himself, only for him to scoff at the notion, _'No, I highly doubt she would have such devotion to me, especially since all I was to her was a prison cell.'_

His thoughts considered other possibilities, _'Could the Shiki Fuin have affected her psyche while in the shield to make it easier for me to draw on her chakra?'_ such an idea had more plausibility than the first idea he considered, but he still saw holes in it, _'No, absolutely not.'_

As he thought of the possibilities, his mind wandered to what he had become.

And he seemed to stumble over his thoughts as he realized something.

They had _both_ been changed by his ascension, not just him.

Glancing at Kyuubi, and for a brief moment, her original form before that energy changed her passed over her form, before flashing back to her own.

'_Could that have had something to do with it?'_

He did not know why, but he felt that his ascension and her change connected them in some manner.

And it was this connection that made him realize something that he had never before considered.

Until now at least.

He picked up his pace and called out, "Kyuubi…"

Kyuubi stopped in her tracks and turned around as Naruto walked up to her, "Yes Naruto-sama?" she asked in curiosity as she looked him over, trying to discern what he was going to say, so as to answer him as swiftly as possible, as a proper servant should.

Naruto looked at her for a moment, and spoke, "Kyuubi…"

…

…

…

Kyuubi blinked a few times before she said something, "Y-yes Naruto-sama?" she asked in confusion, not understanding what her master was trying to convey.

Naruto spoke again, "Kyuubi…I get the feeling that _'Kyuubi'_ isn't your name."

Her eyes widened softly and she tried to speak, "W-what makes you say that?"

She was deeply confused, how had her master known? Had she said something to imply what her master had drawn a conclusion from?

Naruto conveyed his answer, "I am not sure how to explain it, but somehow, I know that your name isn't Kyuubi, not your real name at least."

She stared at him with a bit of shock, before she slowly nodded her head, "Y-yes, t-that is true."

Naruto looked at her and crossed his arms, "So…what is your name then?"

She stared at him in shock, and she stammered, "Y-you want t-to know my name?"

Naruto nodded his head, "Yes…yes I do."

She stared at him, and she felt a small smile creep at her lips.

Taking a deep breath, she bowed, "My name is Akane, Naruto-sama."

Naruto nodded his head at that, and allowed a small nod, "It is a pleasure, Akane."

Akane's eyes fluttered a moment as Naruto said her name, and began to walk past her.

"If we don't start moving now, we may not get to the den in time."

Akane stood up straight and turned after Naruto, "O-of course Naruto-sama." and she ran up after him, until she was ahead of him, leading the way to their next destination.

A small smile tugged at the edges of Akane's lips.

* * *

><p>Ok, first off, Hakkyou no Yami and I tried our best to not end this chapter on a cliffhanger, if we did, we apologize...we are in the works on chapter 5, amongst our other chapters as well, so please be patient...we realize that is asking a lot because of how LONG it took us to update, and we are trying to update more often, but good stories take time to write. As I am sure all authors on this site can agree with.<p>

Now for the Questions...

Is Akane in love with Naruto?: No, she is of great devotion to her master…

Naruto is a demigod?: Yes, however, unlike in other stories, Naruto will most certainly not be a Mary Sue of godlike power, no, he will have to work for his power…he may be a demigod, but he is also a YOUNG and NEWLY FORMED demigod…

Naruto's sudden genius intelligence? How he notices things in others and himself?: His ascension made things clear to him that were not before…as for how he notices things in others, that came with the ascension as well…as for how he noticed things within himself, he was an orphan with damn near nobody but himself, he would likely know more about himself than anyone else.

Why are his Dojutsu different from the previous chapter they were in?: His ascension played a part in their adjustments…when they were first revealed, he still had Ningen blood running through his veins, but when he ascended fully, all of that changed.

Why does it require different flows of his essence to activate each Dojutsu?: He has not one, but FOUR Dojutsu, it may seem plausible to simply 'charge chakra to the eyes' when you only have one Dojutsu, but he has four, so if he simply charged his essence to his eyes, who knows what could end up happening? For all we know, he could activate the Rinnegan when he needs the Byakugan, he could activate the Seishougan and accidentally switch to Sharingan in mid battle. The point is, that it makes sense that activation of each Dojutsu requires a different flow of his essence.

Byakugan not meant for Ningen?: The Byakugan's activation makes the veins around the eye bulge out…that cannot be good for your health.

Is Naruto a pervert like Jiraiya?: No doubt this is a question spawned by Naruto noting Akane's beauty…let me answer with this…there is a difference between appreciating beauty and being a shameless lecher.

Kakashi's willingness to go with the ROOT shinobi?: Based on the situation, he had little choice but to cooperate…and Danzo is loyal to Konoha, despite his underhanded tactics and shady dealings.

The council not tolerating Sasuke killing a teammate?: Despite fanon building up the reasonably legitimate idea that the council would and likely will pamper a substantial asset to Konoha…the fact remains Sasuke killed a teammate, if this action went unpunished, it would imply that nothing he did was wrong, which would lead to him killing his teammates again in the future, which could lead to failure of a mission due to lacking shinobi for the mission, as well as dissention in the group. This will eventually come to bite Konoha, as hearing that one of their Shinobi callously kills their comrades on a mission will make them less inclined to send missions to them, which will cause Konoha to nosedive into a financial slump that will make them easy prey for the neighboring villages…as dumb as civilians are in Shinobi matters, they should be able to comprehend THIS much.

Kushina's further insecurities?: She is a mother desperately searching for her child…is there really any more reason to explain this?

Akane's unwillingness to say more of why she did not set up a more permanent home?: This will be explained in the future, it is a major part of the plot.

Now, Hakkyou no Yami and I appreciate your patience in waiting for updates, and we sincerely hope that we answered all of your questions without giving away major spoilers.

Until our next update, this has been dracohalo117 and Hakkyou no Yami


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